


The Life and Times of Jane Shepard: The BAaT Years

by Blossomingsun



Series: The Life and Times of Jane Shepard [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Turian/Human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-13
Updated: 2012-10-13
Packaged: 2017-11-16 05:51:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/536192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blossomingsun/pseuds/Blossomingsun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beginning with those fateful days on Mindoir, we peer into the life of Jane Shepard and follow the transformation into a Legendary Commander. Part One of Five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 1: Calm before the Storm

* * *

Mindoir is always incredibly beautiful this time of the year, Jane thought to herself as she lifted her emerald irises from a book. The fields were cleared of crops as the harvesting season came to an end, which lent a beautiful view of the endless hills and the far off mountains. The air was becoming cooler each day, and Jane looked forward to having a rest from working outside all the time. Her mother told her that Earth's seasons were nearly identical to those on Mindoir, and it made Jane yearn to visit the Sol System in the future.

As her eyes were settled on the horizon, she heard a twig snap behind her, and she immediately jumped up, turning around to face whatever had made the sound. She sighed, taking in the silhouette of Chase, her boyfriend. His hands were up, palms facing her, showing her that he wasn't there to scare her.

"Whoa, Jane, I didn't know you had such incredible reflexes," Chase laughed easily, one of his hands going up to his face, running his fingers through his tousled, black hair. She smiled, laughing with him.

"Sorry, Chase. I was just in deep thought, and you startled me," Jane set her book down on the side of the hill, and walked over to him, her green eyes taking in his bright blue ones, a soft smile peeking from her face. "Is the harvesting done on your family's land?" She asked inquisitively.

Jane slipped her hands into Chase's, and he pulled her close, leaning his head against her auburn tresses that fell past her shoulders. "We finished nearly everything today, I'm sure that our shipments from last year will be considered nothing compared to the yield of food that we produced this year. Mindoir seems to have a naturally replenishing soil, and the tech that the Alliance provided has proved incredibly useful," His voice seemed surprised at the outcome of their crops this year, mostly because Mindoir was only recently inhabited by humans, and the crops were only increasing in yield each year, easily providing for over half the colonies in the system. "Let's forget about work for now, what were you reading?"

Jane blushed, "It's nothing, just a tech manual that I found on my father's bookshelf," She picked it up, showing him the cover, it was a picture of an omnitool with multiple names below the picture, signifying it was more of a textbook than anything. They started walking towards her house, stopping at the grove of trees that hid her house from the now-empty fields.

Chase just shook his head, "I don't know how you can stand to read those things. They're so boring; I can't even stay awake during some of the agricultural classes I have,"

Shepard smirked at him; "Well, I'm sorry that this literature may be too advanced for you to understand, but I find it extremely interesting," Her joking tone made Chase feign a shot to his heart, "Oh Jane! That stings," He smirked back at her, and suddenly pulled her close.

Lifting his hand, Chase slid his thumb over the freckles on her cheek, noting how quiet Jane became. Leaning down, he covered her mouth with his, giving her a sweet kiss that only lasted for a second, but Jane felt herself becoming warm. As Chase pulled his face away, Jane became emboldened, dropping her book and reached up with her hands, pulling him back towards her, enveloping him in a longer and much more satisfying kiss.

Her hands ran down his strong shoulders, and stopped at his chest. Jane was taller than most girls, so she was nearly eye-level with Chase, not having to tip-toe to kiss him. Pulling away sooner than she wanted, her voice was soft, "You should come over tomorrow night. My parents will be staying out late to help with some last minute harvesting at the Bedingfield's Farm so the crops will be finished for the year," Her heart pounded at the prospect of Chase coming over.

Chase's expression had changed, his eyes darkening, his voice softer and deeper than before. "Are you sure? You're ready?" Jane nodded her head, and Chase smiled, picking her up easily and pulled her into another long kiss. Jane had a leg on either side of Chase; her back was now leaning against a tree. His tongue sliding across her bottom lip, Jane relented to him, pulling his tongue into her mouth and moving her hands to run through his hair. Chase tasted like spring, new and refreshing, and it made her skin tingle.

Jane felt Chase pull her closer to him, and she moved her face slightly away from his as she felt his need through her pants. They were panting, but Chase wasn't putting her down, he just held her against him, he brushed his cheek against her temple, "I think I need to go home before I lose my self-control," His voice was breathy, but Jane could tell in his voice that he didn't really want to leave. Jane sighed, knowing that they would have to wait until tomorrow, or risk her parents hearing them in the trees. She wasn't even sure if her parents were home or not, they could be making their way home as well.

"I think you're right, my parents are either home or on their way home. If I don't show up soon, they'll start to worry," Her voice was full of regret. Chase just smiled again and set her down on the ground, his hands leaving her hesitantly, and he kissed her on the cheek softly. "Alright, I  _will_  see you tomorrow," His voice gave her shivers as he stepped away from her.

"I look forward to it," Jane hadn't realized how breathless she was, and the words were nearly just a breath on the wind. As Chase stepped back, her body ached, but she knew it was for the best.  _There's always tomorrow_ , Jane thought to herself.

Chase waved to her, and started walking back the way they had come from, his family's house in the opposite direction of the woods. Jane took a deep breath and made her way through the wooded area, seeing the sun beginning to set on the horizon. Making her way through the trees, light began to fall on the ground around her as she got closer to the house. All the lights were on, meaning that everyone was home, and Jane was glad to be going home, instead of staying out later and worrying her parents.

Walking up to the front door, she opened it to the smell of delicious aromas wafting from the kitchen. Closing the door quietly, Jane made her way to the kitchen, the wonderful smells getting stronger with each step, and her stomach growling in realization that she hadn't eaten for a good portion of the day. Too wrapped up in her book… Jane looked down at her hands, realizing she had left the book back at the edge of the woods. Shrugging to herself, she knew it would be there tomorrow, she would just retrieve it first thing in the morning.

Jane made her way slowly through the house into the kitchen. It wasn't a large home by any means, but it held all of Jane's memories. There were three bedrooms at the back of the house, connected by a small hallway that you could get to through the living room. The living room also shared space with the dining room, and the kitchen was just past that. Her emerald gaze fell upon each item in the home, remembering the moment it entered the house. She noted her brother's toys on the ground, her mother's scientific journals on a side table in the living room, which Jane peeked at occasionally, her father's tools laying against the wall.

Upon entering the kitchen, the red-haired sixteen year old came face to face with her thirty-five year old counterpart, Hannah Shepard was smiling with the same green eyes and fiery tresses. "Where have you been this whole time? I haven't seen you since lunch! I swear Jane Evera Shepard, you only come home to eat!"

Jane smiled in amusement, and hugged her mother. "Sorry Mom, I was wrapped up in an omnitool manual that I borrowed from Dad. Is there anything I can help with?" She offered herself in apology.

"You can set the table. Tonight we're having roast Tochtli with some of the fresh vegetables from the garden," Her mother's tone was one of forgiveness, and Jane kissed her mother on the cheek as she quickly set the table. Tochtli was also one of Jane's favorite, much like a rabbit from Earth, but larger and domesticated like cattle. As she finished with the dining room, her father entered the front of the house, with her six-year-old brother in his arms. Just as Jane was the spitting image of her mother, her brother was the mirror of her father. They both had green-blue eyes, but with dark brown hair, and a slightly darker complexion than the fair skin of the female Shepards in the family.

"Dad!" Jane exclaimed, walking quickly over to her and giving both her father and brother a hug in the same breath. Her father briefly touched his forehead to hers as Jane hugged him, and then set her brother down on the floor.

"Good Evening Jane, why don't you and John go ahead and sit at the table while I wash up?" He kissed her on the cheek, then passed her to go into the kitchen and say hello to his wife. Jane made funny faces at her brother as they sat down and waited. Shortly after hearing her mother and father speak a few sentences; they both brought out a pan of food. One had the roast Tochtli with potatoes and the other held a plethora of vegetables from the harvest that morning.

Conversation was light at the table while they ate dinner, and Jane felt that something was different that night from other nights. Her Dad and Mom were much more at ease than normal, and Jane guessed it was from the great amount of produce they had from the crop yield. Normally, they would be talking over ideas on how to increase production or different techniques that had worked in the past, but the talking consisted of Jane's school, how Chase was doing, and the fact that the harvesting season was coming to an end. As the food was finished, Jane helped her mother clean the table, but her father was still sitting at it after all the dishes were cleaned and her mother sat down at the table as well. Her father now had a black box in his hands and it looked like it could hold book or something of that size. Jane's curiosity was piqued, but she was distracted by her mother's voice.

"Jane, come sit with us for a moment. We have something for you," Bright green eyes shined at Jane while she ran a hand through her long auburn locks nervously. "Okay," Her voice betrayed her nervousness at that moment, but she sat down promptly, looking at both her parents.

"I'm not in trouble am I? I didn't mean to be gone for so long today, I got so intrigued with the Omnitool book and how they're used and exactly what can be done with them…" Her voice stopped as her mother put a hand over hers. Her father's voice was gentle as he spoke, "That's exactly what this is about," He handed her the black box and gestured for her to open it.

Confused, Jane gingerly touched the lid, nearly scared to open the gift. As Jane lifted the lid of the box, a thin, black cloth was revealed. She touched it, it was slick to the touch, but extremely pliable. As Jane examined it closer, she noted small diodes running along the length of it, and when she picked it up, she noticed it was in the shape of a sleeve. A small gasp escaped her mouth as she saw the words  _Polaris – Kassa Fabrication_  imprinted on the inside edge. Her parents were beaming at her reaction, happy to have struck Jane Shepard speechless.

Jane slid it over her left hand, the sleeve fitting her forearm comfortably and easily. She felt the diodes react to her skin and immediately an orange hologram system lit up around her left forearm. Jane Shepard, in a rare moment of pure happiness, squealed with delight. "THANK YOU! Mom! Dad! This is the best gift I have ever received!" She jumped up ecstatically and gave her father a hug first, then her mother. She held back tears of happiness while hugging them, her face glued to the orange microframe that was hovering over her arm. She leaned out of her mom's embrace, looking both of them in the face, "Why are you giving me this?"

Her parents smiled and her mother spoke first this time, "Jane, we had an excellent crop yield this year, and we decided that we definitely will need help with moving the crops to the distribution and shipping centers. You know how to use almost every piece of software and program in an omnitool, and your father came up with this idea. Plus, this way you can communicate with more than just the humans that pass through here, but you can also help with the food shipments for some of the Asari colonies nearby as well," Jane nodded her head at all of this, and was excited to be stepping into a new role within the farm. She had been content with just helping cultivating the soil, irrigation and harvesting, but this was a pleasant surprise.

She hugged her mother and father again, before looking at them anxiously. Her father just laughed, "You can go calibrate your Omnitool now, if you wish. Don't stay up all night though, we have a lot of produce to sort and get ready to ship tomorrow," Her father's voice was stern, but he smiled while he said it. Jane quickly ducked out of the room, heading to her bedroom to sit there and see the Omnitool in action.

* * *

Jane had been able to calibrate her omnitool within an hour, and had spent the next two configuring everything to her liking. She now had a two-way translator program running for all the common languages within the Milky Way, her personal extranet mail system set-up, a communications link for direct contact to other omnitools, a planetary topographical scanner and even a few tech manuals at the ready for her to read whenever she was bored.

Thoroughly satisfied with her Omnitool's capabilities, she deactivated the orange interface, gazing over at the window. She laid in bed, staring at the stars in the sky, realizing that for the first time in her life, she could communicate with the rest of the galaxy as freely as she wished. A low heat burned in her soul, making Jane yearn to be among the stars, using her omnitool to speaking with Salarians, Asari, or even Turians. She had only seen a few Asari in her entire life, and had never spoken to anyone that wasn't a Human. The sky opened Jane's eyes and made her realize how much was out there to see, to explore. The flame that had ignited within her now became a constant burning fire, and it sent her head spinning.

She had always thought that she would stay on Mindoir with Chase, raise a family with him, and only go and visit other planets on rare vacations. It was a simple life that she had cared for, something safe and familiar. Now that she had her omnitool, there were greater dreams and visions to be had. Jane could own a ship and choose her home, moving whenever she felt, looking for adventure and relief from the known. She could go and see every alien Homeworld, from Illium to Sur'Kesh and perhaps even Palaven.

She could become a great technician for the Citadel, or an Engineer for a vast ship, the galaxy was hers for the taking, now that she had a semblance of technology. In the back of her mind, she knew Chase would never want to leave Mindoir, he was much more of a homebody, but she didn't think she would need to deal with that right away. She had at least two more years of staying with her parents before she needed to decide how to start her own career.

 _I better stop thinking now, before I decide to give up sleeping tonight_ , Jane thought as she wistfully stared out her window. She turned over, her back facing the window, and closed her eyes, hoping to dream of stars and planets far away. Quieting her mind, she pushed the thoughts of adventure out of her head to wait for another day.  _There's always tomorrow_ , Jane thought to herself.


	2. In the Midst of It

Light filtered in through the window of Jane's bedroom, the warmth waking her slowly as the sun rose in the sky. Her eyes fluttered open, revealing bright green irises that shot open as she realized how late it was, the sun being so high in the sky. Jane glanced at her clock before emitting a set of colorful words, jumping out of the bed quickly. It was nearly 1100 hours, and though there wasn't any schooling that day, Jane knew her parents had wanted her help with sorting and shipping the produce.  _Why didn't they wake me up? They must've known that I stayed up late with the omni-tool…_

Jane smiled while looking down at her omni-tool, feeling the bio-metric scanners that were touching her skin under the black sleeve. Hurrying, she pulled her auburn locks into a half-bun, found a clean pair of jeans and a black t-shirt that she knew wouldn't show dirt from whatever work had to be done that day.  _I really need to get that book I left in the fields yesterday before it rains, I should go ahead and get it before they know I'm awake._  Jane thought as she looked out her window to the woods in the backyard.

Jane opened the window silently, and checking to make sure no one was nearby, she easily escaped. Shutting the window, she made her way into the woods, back to the fields to find her book.

* * *

Reaching the edge of the trees, Jane located the omni-tool manual exactly where she dropped it, no worse for wear than some dirt that she dusted off the cover. Looking over the fields, a sudden knot formed in Jane's stomach as she saw ships in the skies. She hadn't been able to notice them through the thick grove of trees, branches and leaves covering the blue above her head. The ships were not any that Jane had seen before, and they definitely weren't part of the alliance. They weren't even remotely human looking, and Jane's face drained of blood as she strained to see details on the ships' hull.

 _Batarian State Arms…_  Jane knew the logo on the hull of the starship cruiser, and there were two frigates flanking the larger vessel. It was as if someone had knocked every ounce of air out of Jane's lungs, and she fell to her knees just at the sight of the ships. However, the ships weren't landing, and to the teenager's horror, smaller ships began emptying out of the cruiser. Jane counted each and every one, and it totaled to being twenty smaller shuttle-like ships that came from the cruiser, and then the two frigates each had three shuttles leave their docking bays. The shuttles began to spread out over Mindoir, and Jane realized that there were a few shuttles headed towards her. Instinctively, Jane began to retreat back into the woods, falling into cover. In the distance, she saw two of the three shuttles pass by, heading towards Chase's family and their farm, and fear took hold of her firmly.

Heart pounding, she watched the third shuttle set down near her own house, the trees blocking the full view of it landing. Within seconds, she jolted into action, heading back to her house, the omni-tool manual left on the ground once more.

* * *

It had taken her longer than she thought to return to the house, but once it was in view, her steps were noiseless and determined. Adrenaline was pumping, and though Jane's spirit was fiercely adamant about protecting her family the best she could, her body was trembling with fear.

She had never encountered a Batarian before; she'd only seen them in textbooks and was taught that they weren't very fond of Humans. The Batarians thought the humans were too aggressive in their colonization of planets, and were denied access to planets that the Humans were given. That had sparked rebellion within the Batarians, and Jane knew they were no longer part of the Citadel. Jane wasn't sure what she could do, but she knew the weak spots on a Batarian, and she was rather strong for her age, helping her father work on the farm.

Her heart sank as she heard nothing but silence as she neared her bedroom window. She opened it and lithely slid through the frame. She didn't bother to close it, because as she came through the frame, voices were heard. They were incredibly strange, and Jane realized it was because her translator wasn't active at the moment, and within seconds she had her omni-tool working to help her understand the Batarians.

"Navrok, I can't believe you were such an idiot and just shot everything that moved when I knocked down the door…" One Batarian hissed to, presumably, another. Jane held her breath as she heard those words, her chest being crushed by an invisible weight at his words. She took no notice of her body temperature rising, a slight blue glow surrounding her arms.

"You didn't really think this run was for profit did you, Varnak? This is a message to these insufferable creatures! We're letting them know they need to crawl back to Earth and leave the Attican Traverse and Terminus Systems alone," A second Batarian voice spoke harshly, and his words seethed through Jane. Her body was fully enveloped in a blue glow, but she was completely unaware of it. All she could think of was her dead family, and someone had to pay for their lives being taken. Someone would pay. Dearly.

Jane, even filled to the brim with anger, opened the door to the hallway soundlessly, her steps lighter than air. Energy built around her as she walked through the hallway, revealing the two Batarians' backs to her, leaning over her father. Her father's lifeless were staring up at her, and Jane's sight went red.

"You will pay," Her voice was edged with vengeance and the darkest part of her pain. The Batarians were clearly surprised as they turned to her, but they didn't have a chance. Everything started going in slow motion for Jane, adrenaline pumping.

Without realizing what she was doing, Jane released two balls of blue energy from her palms. The balls exploded against the Batarians' faces, warping and distorting them into something unimaginably grotesque. The pair fell to the floor, dropping their weapons; the only noises made were the soft thuds of their dead bodies hitting the floor beside her father.

Jane couldn't understand what just happened to her, but her knees gave way as she was floored by exhaustion and adrenaline leaving her. Her mind couldn't comprehend what she had just done, but her mind easily understood the fact that her family was gone. Tears began to freely fall, her body wracked with sobs and sadness from the loss. Jane couldn't remember feeling so lost and hopeless in her life.

With a shaking hand, Jane closed her father's eyes, and she curled up beside him. As she moved to lie beside him, she kicked a pistol that one of the Batarians had dropped. Jane sat up and grabbed the weapon, then settled again beside her father. Jane didn't even want to see what her mother and brother looked like, she knew that they would be in her brother's room. More tears fell, and her sobs became louder, her body beside her father's.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here. I'm so sorry," Her voice was now raspy, just above a whisper as she looked at her father's face. "I'm sorry," She repeated it over and over to him, as if the words would bring him back, and he would forgive her. She knew she would never get to hear his voice, or her mother voice, again. Jane knew there were things that she would never experience again.

After what seemed like hours, Jane moved her body from her father's, and leaned against the back wall of their living room, and she had the pistol aimed at the door. Her tears had stopped, simply because she was dehydrated and exhausted. She was surprised that there were only two Batarians on the shuttle, but they obviously didn't need that much firepower to overtake an unsuspecting human family. Anger gripped her heart again, and she felt that unfamiliar energy sneaking beneath her skin once more.

Standing up, she went over to the pair of Batarians, beginning to take useful items off of them. She confiscated four grenades, another pistol, and a larger rifle that she strapped to her back from the duo, then grabbed some water. There were more of these monsters out there. At least two more shuttles had landed in the vicinity, and she would find them.

* * *

Jane had reached the Bedingfield farm fields, and she located one of the shuttles. No one was on it yet, but she was sure they would return before dark. The Bedingfields had a good amount of farmhands, along with a much larger family, compared to her or Chase's family. They would put up somewhat of a fight, even if they were taken by surprise.

Brushing her auburn tresses out of her face, she took cover by some taller grass at the edge of the field and pulled up her omni-tool. Looking over schematics of the weaponry she had lifted off the Batarians, Jane was struck with an idea. She scanned the four grenades, and set them up with a detonator connected to her comm unit in her Omni-tool.

Using as much cover as she could, Jane Stuck the grenades under the shuttle, two by the engine and one by each side of the hull, where she could tell the shuttles was the weakest. Once her work had satisfied her, she went back to her cover. Making sure that she was completely hidden from the view of anyone, Jane sat in waiting.

Sure enough, after a long wait that nearly had Jane sitting the dark, there was a chorus of voices. All of them held the distinctly Batarian accent to her through her translator, and that only fueled her resentment towards them. They had taken none as prisoners, the Batarians had killed off everyone, and here they were, talking and chatting as if everything was right in the world.  _How can they act so normal?_  Jane's mind seethed, but it held her perfectly still.

There were six or seven of them in total, in the darkness it was hard to tell how many exactly there were, and Jane had a hard time telling the difference in their voices. She was itching to detonate her grenades and exact vengeance on her friends, it was the least she could do.

The troop took their sweet time getting onto the shuttle, talking about how the Humans deserved what they got, joking about how they would take over Mindoir after all of this was done, and the Citadel would be forced to take notice of them.  _Over my dead body…_  Her thoughts stewed, but Jane held her position.

 _Finally…_  Jane thought as the last Batarian boarded the shuttle. Her body was sweating in anticipation, but she knew that she'd need to wait until they were in the air. Watching the shuttle rise, Jane brought up her communications unit in her Omni-tool. In perfect synchronization, she detonated the grenades as the shuttle engaged its drive core. The grenades literally blew the shuttle apart, and all that Jane saw in the explosion was a bright fire that quenched her thirst for revenge and blood. She didn't take notice of burning bodies falling to the ground or the devastated shuttled that shoved itself back into the earth, causing another flare-up of flames. Jane focused on the feeling of vengeance, taking solace in the fact that those monsters would never hurt anyone again.

She stood up and started walking back to her home in the dark, not daring to use the flashlight in her Omni-tool. Her body had finally caught up to her brain, and everything hurt. She didn't want to go to Chase's home and face the same jaw-dropping reality that lay in her own house.

* * *

Jane wasn't sure how long she'd been living in a house full of dead bodies, three or four days. Her mind was numb to everything around her, focused only on her survival. She hadn't bathed since the attack, fearing that the Batarian pirates would come and take her unaware. Jane fought sleep the best she could, only succumbing to it when completely exhausted. Another surprise for Jane was the fact that the other Batarians hadn't come to search for their missing crewmates. However, knowing how heartless and carnal they were, it shouldn't have stunned her.

Waking up from a 3 hour nap, Jane woke to find the sun rising from the horizon. She had decided that she'd make a final stand against the Batarians. It seemed as if there wasn't going to be a rescue, at least from what she had seen the last few days. Jane had salvaged what she could from the untouched shuttle, including a horde of thermal clips and even more grenades.

Slipping the rifle on her back, Jane had washed her face, noting the dull look in her jade eyes. It was as if someone had pulled a cover of clouds over her eyes, and they were deadened to the point that she didn't recognize the person in the mirror. Jane moved her eyes up, glancing at her hair. It had been bothering her the past few days, always getting in her way, blocking her vision. Pulling the hair back from her face, she activated her Omni-tool.

The hologram hardened and formed a blade that hovered above her hand. Balling her left hand into a fist, she used her right hand to hold her hair taut, and with a quick stroke, Jane Shepard's long tresses fell to the floor. She looked at the short bob that she now had, and gave herself a quick nod in the mirror. She left the hair on the floor of the bathroom, along with her memories and pain.

Walking outside, the sunlight hit her, and she began towards the city with purpose.

* * *

She had been walking for about two hours, until she noticed a large  **Alliance**  ship of Cruiser class enter the atmosphere of Mindoir. It was only then that she realized the two Batarian frigates were gone, and only the cruiser remained. As quickly as the starship had entered the atmosphere, shuttles began leaving the docking bay of the Alliance cruiser. Jane's knees felt weak as she quickly opened her Omni-tool to find the channel that the cruiser was on. The tool scanned quickly, but she held her breath those few seconds before she received the channel.

"This is the SSV Hyderabad. If anyone can hear this, please respond. We are dispatching rescue units…" A calming female voice was repeating the message, and Jane interrupted her after hearing it once.

"SSV Hyderabad, this is Jane Shepard. I am the lone survivor in my sector of Mindoir. I am uploading my coordinates now," She forced her voice to be strong.

"We've got a shuttle routed to pick you up. Stay where you are, Shepard," The female voice was calm and soothing to Jane's ears. Jane watched the nearest shuttle head straight for her coordinates, and set down in the level field yards away from her. Two Naval Officers exited the shuttle, in full battle gear, and walked up to her.

Even in their gear, helmets and all, Jane could tell that she shocked them with her appearance. Holding a large bag of grenades and thermal clips, with a pistol in her hand, and a rifle strapped to her back, she must've looked either incredibly intimidating, or incredibly dumb. She walked towards them, and one of them opened the front of his visor.

"Are you Shepard?" The man's voice was calming; it was nice to hear another voice after so many days of silence. The man held his hand out to her as she walked up to them.

"Yes, I'm… Shepard," Her voice was soft this time, tired. Hearing someone call her by last name felt different, but good and Jane wasn't exactly sure why. Perhaps it made her realize that she still had a piece of her family that she could always carry with her, or that she would be able to carry their name forward, and not everything was lost. He took her bag from her, but she didn't relinquish either weapon. She had become attached to them; they made her feel stronger and kept her resolve intact.

"Let's get you onboard," The man gestured, and she followed him onto the shuttle, her shoulders finally relaxing in the fact that she was no longer alone.


	3. Reassembling the Pieces

"What's your name?" The female doctor was giving a psychological exam to Jane, but the young survivor seemed agitated.

"Shepard, Jane Hannah Shepard," Her normally soft voice was curt, short and to the point. She was tired and wanted nothing more than to be out of the Med-Bay and in a bed. Jane wanted the thoughts of her family to drift away with her dreams.

"How old are you?" The doctor was trying to be compassionate, Jane took notice.

"I'm sixteen, I'll be seventeen in seven months," Her voice softened slightly, cooperating.

"Where were you born?" The questions were to test her memory and brain functions.

"Mindoir, at the Alliance-Attican base hospital," Her answers came quickly.

"Who did you live with?" The doctor's questions were beginning to probe too deeply for Jane's liking.

"My mother, Hannah Shepard, my father, Zachary Shepard, and my brother, John Shepard," Her voice had lessened to nearly a whisper. She didn't like the way the doctor had emphasized the ' _did'_ in her question.

"How long had you been stranded before the Alliance ships were able to contact you?" The doctor was no longer looking at Jane, but entering information into a Datapad.

"I believe it was four full days until I saw the ship, but once contact was made, I was reached within minutes by shuttle," Jane's eyes were glassy, gazing at something on the wall as she remembered the past days.

"How did you survive for four full days, did your family have weapons hidden? What exactly happened when the Batarians reached your home?" The woman had looked up from her datapad, and was now focusing her gaze on Jane. It made Jane uncomfortable as much as her question.

Jane's eyes fell to the floor, and she licked her lips, her throat suddenly feeling dry and rough. She stayed silent for many moments, until the woman put a hand on her knee. Jane's eyes lifted back to the woman's face, "It's okay, Jane," The doctor leaned back, "You can tell me later, when you're more comfortable. You need rest for now," The woman stood up, Jane standing with her.

"Thank you…" Jane's voice trembled, betraying the façade she had put on. "What's your name?" Her bright green eyes looked at the woman's face, noting she had dark brown hair that matched her dark eyes. She had a similar hairstyle to the one Jane had fashioned for herself, a short bob.

"I'm Dr. Lalita Esperanza. You can address me as Lalita or Dr. Esperanza, whatever you feel comfortable using," The woman was incredibly accommodating and Jane was thankful for that small benediction.

"Let's find out where you will be sleeping," The woman walked out of the med-bay, Jane following her with a pinch of curiosity.

* * *

Jane was fully settled into the guest quarters, with a very heavy heart. No one had made it but her. No one else survived. The words felt as hollow as her stomach, Jane had been sick ever since the report came in.

She was the sole survivor of Mindoir. Another ship arrived after the SSV Hyderabad, a larger vessel that was called the SSV Einstein, and it had driven off the Batarian ship, but it was too late. Every shuttle had returned within an hour of being sent out, there were no other people sending out communications to the ships or shuttles. The percentages of casualties were what astounded Jane. Only ten-percent of the entire population had been spared to be kept as slaves to the Batarians. Ninety-percent of the population had been slaughtered, and the Batarians had gotten away.

The Alliance vessels had decided to keep their position for at least two days, in case a few survivors went into hiding and couldn't communicate immediately with the Navy. Jane had a horrible feeling that no one would respond, that she would indeed be alone.

Alone.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, head in her hands, realization hit her. Jane had lost everything. Everything that she had ever loved and cherished, it would never come back. She would have gotten sick again, if she hadn't already emptied the contents of her entire being. Jane felt hot tears spilling from her emerald irises, but anger had taken grab of her.  _Why aren't they going after the Batarians...? We should at least try and rescue the others!_  Jane's thoughts spit fire into the fiery rage she'd already began stoking.

The familiar blue glow had erupted around her hands, but now the azure radiance put out electric sparks. She stood up abruptly, the blue encompassing her body in an eruption of sparks. Jane was pissed that the Alliance Navy wasn't doing more, they could be doing anything other than sitting here, waiting for people that were never going to come. She knew in her heart, she was the only survivor, and with that knowledge, a planet full of guilt. Guilt that she was the only one to make it, guilt that she couldn't have done more, guilt that she didn't try to do more. Jane Shepard was angry with the Alliance officers who weren't doing everything they could, but she was even angrier with herself.

The energy was overwhelming in the room, and Jane was at her breaking point. Her eyes flashed from bright green to the same blue surrounding her, and let the energy go. She fell to her knees as the biotics rushed out of her, slamming into the walls of her room on the ship. The blast was so powerful, the bed flipped against the wall, denting the bed, as well as the wall behind it. Jane heard footsteps rushing towards her room, but the rest of her body met the floor as exhaustion overtook her.

* * *

Jane woke up in the med-bay, in the same bed she had been sitting on and talking with Dr. Esperanza. Her brain was on fire, it felt as if someone had taken a pistol and hit her across the face. The med-bay was only half-lit, the dimness helping with her headache. The last thing Jane remembered was a wave of energy leaving her nearly lifeless, it had been so much pent up anger and fury, Jane had been scared of herself in that moment. Moving her hand to her face, her fingertips felt something slick and gel-like on her face. She pulled her hand back from her cheek, and noted the blue layer of gel sticking to her fingerprints. Jane's green irises flickered around the walls of the room to try and spot a mirror.

Finding a small one across the room, Jane moved her legs to the edge of the bed, and tested her strength. Surprised at the fact she didn't fall down while standing, she slowly made her way to the mirror on the wall. Coming closer to it, she gasped as she saw the large bruise that covered her entire cheekbone and temple in sickly purples and yellows. The bruise was covered in the blue gel, and she realized it must be military-grade medi-gel. Reaching up to her face, she ran her fingers lightly over the bruise, but pulled back immediately, hissing in pain. It must've happened when she fell onto the ground from outburst. Thinking about the event in her room made her feel fatigued once more, and she turned around to go back to bed, but a male officer had entered the room. He stood by her bed, arms crossed with an analyzing stare focused on the young survivor.

"You're not supposed to be out of bed," His voice was calm, but stern. Jane noted his bright blue eyes and short blonde hair, and how his stern countenance made his jawline fierce. The sight of him prompted her to walk quickly back towards the bed, and she sat back on it, silently.

"What happened?" Her voice finally spoke up, and her eyes met his with the question.

"Well, I was hoping you could tell me. We had no idea that you were a biotic; there was nothing in your family's colony records that any Shepard was a biotic," He pulled a stool up beside her bed, "My name is Karan Nasser, I'm a Staff Lieutenant of the ship, Dr. Esperanza asked me to look after you after her shift was over. She'll be back at 0700 hours,"

The information was a lot for Jane to take in, but she processed most of it, "A biotic? I'm not a biotic, I've never even met one," She began to shake her head, but that only exacerbated her headache, making her wince. "Why do you think I'm a biotic?"

Karan chuckled, "Other than the fact that you nearly knocked half our systems offline from the biotic blast that came from your room? Dr. Esperanza hooked you up to an EEG machine, and noticed that your brainwaves are very similar to a developing biotic," Jane's eyes widened at his words.

"But, how? Do people just suddenly become biotics?" Jane's voice went from calm to worried in a few moments, and Karan took action to still her fears. He lifted his hand to her, and it erupted into blue flames. Jane didn't seem surprised by the action, but held her breath.

"Jane, people don't typically display signs of biotic powers until they're teenagers, it's completely normal for it to be happening to you. Dr. Esperanza specifically asked me to be the one looking after you while she was sleeping, because I'm sort of the resident biotic on board. Most humans that develop biotic powers were exposed to element zero in the womb or in early childhood,"

The blue fire extinguished itself from his hand and he leaned his elbows on his knees, "However; you have exhibited far greater powers than a human biotic should be able to, without any implants. It may have something to do with the fact that you had a… traumatic awakening. Most humans can't control their powers without implants, and they're highly affected by stress and emotions,"

Jane was beginning to understand, and was extremely thankful for the insightful Dr. Esperanza to leave Karan with her. Looking down at her palms, she clenched and unclenched her fists repeatedly, "That's how I killed the Batarians in my home," Jane's eyes took on a faraway appearance as they stared at the wall across from her bed, her voice cool and collected. "There was only a pair of them. My family was already dead, but I snuck up on them and released biotic energy at them. I was only standing a few feet away from them, but they didn't have a chance,"  _There was so much blood, too much blood…_  Jane averted her thoughts from those dark corners of her mind, moving her gaze to settle on Karan.

"There was another shuttle of Batarians not too far off from my house; I had noticed them landing the same time as the shuttle at my house. I took what I could off the dead Batarians in my home, then found the other shuttle. No one was there, so I set a trap for the second group while they were… occupied. I synced my Omni-tool with the grenades I had taken, and when they returned, I hid and blew their shuttle into dust as they took off from the landing site," A small, dangerous smile crept onto Jane's face as she relived those moments in her mind. A sudden weariness overtook her, and Karan knew she needed more rest. Jane looked like she was struggling against a severe headache, which was to be expected.

Her eyes fully focused on Karan again, and he wasn't disturbed by her rendition, but more interested in how she managed to survive the circumstances. He needed to let the C.O. know what she had done planet-side, and give a full report on her abilities as well. "Jane, that was an incredible feat to pull off for a sixteen year old girl. I definitely think you are in need of rest now. I'll come back and check on you later, okay? We can talk more then,"

Karan stood and she gave him a genuine smile, "Thank you for talking with me, Staff Lieutenant,"

"You can call me Nasser, or Karan if you prefer," He said, leaning back in the seat. "Sleep well, Jane,"

"Well Karan, call me Shepard," Her request didn't seem extremely odd, so he just nodded.

Shepard settled in for a deep sleep, feeling extraordinarily fatigued from her performance on Mindoir. The anger she felt earlier had been washed away by dreams.

* * *

Jane woke up, with a small smile on her face. She had been dreaming about the sunflowers that would begin blooming in a few weeks, and she was looking forward to helping her parents…

_They're gone._

Her eyes opened, revealing a fully lit med-bay, with Dr. Esperanza at her desk, entering some information in at her private terminal. Her smile fell, and she knew that everything that had happened with the Batarians wasn't a nightmare, it had all really occurred. There wouldn't be any more sunflowers, or harvests, and her parents were gone. Her heart hurt with the loss, and her mind pushed the thoughts out of her mind for the moment. Jane was hungry.

Moving into a sitting position on the bed, she caught Dr. Esperanza's attention. As if she were reading Jane's mind, the dark-haired doctor stood, giving Jane a smile and brought a tray full of food over to Jane. "Good Morning Jane, you're going to need to eat all of this. Humans with biotic powers have a much higher metabolism than other humans, and it's important for you to keep from exhausting yourself. Food also staves off the headaches you will get until you have implants,"

"Thanks, Dr. Esperanza, and… call me Shepard," The young survivor returned the smile, beginning to eat some of the food. There was a large bowl of plain oatmeal, or at least something like oatmeal, along with another bowl of exotic-but-edible nuts to provide protein, and a glass of juice. Wolfing down the provisions, Shepard hadn't realized how hungry she was until the entire tray of devoid of food. The doctor's brown-black irises had watched her the entire time that Jane ate, and then moved the tray from her bed.

"Well then, Shepard, I only have a few more questions for you… If you don't mind?" The doctor was assessing the auburn-haired teenager's mental stability. "I don't need you to tell me about what happened on Mindoir, but I do need to ask you a few things going forward. If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask," Esperanza sat at her bedside, as Karan had the night before.

Jane nodded her head, "Okay," She was feeling much more spirited, even after waking up from a heart-wrenching dream. Shepard had become adept at keeping the lurking darkness at bay in her mind.

"Alright, so how do you feel today? Do you have a headache at all? Your face seems nearly healed," The doctor smiled as she inspected Jane's face, and Jane was astonished, touching her face that had been near blinding-pain the last time she grazed it. Jane saw her face in a reflective surface by the bed, noting that the medi-gel was gone, but the bruise was a ghost of its former self. She barely felt a twinge of pain, and she responded to the doctor quickly. "My headache is completely gone, and I feel much better after eating. Now I have a question... Do I have to get implants?"

Esperanza's knowing look met Jane's deep emerald eyes, "Shepard, every human biotic must get implants. It will help in controlling your powers and focusing them, as well as keep you from getting headaches when you do use biotics. Karan told me that you had a conversation with him last night, and he offered to come speak with you later today. There's a lot to explain to you, but he didn't want to overwhelm you with information until you were better," The doctor leaned forward, "Did you have any problems sleeping?"

Shepard shook her head, "No, not after I talked with Karan," Jane neglected to mention the rude awakening her mind gave her at the realization her world was forever changed. "How long will I be staying aboard the SSV Hyderabad?"

"Once we have confirmed there are no other survivors, protocol for developing biotics is to transport them to Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training. That's where you'll undergo implant surgery and participate in biotic training to better control your powers. However, that is at least two weeks away," Esperanza's voice took on an apologetic tone; sorry that so many things were thrown at Jane in such a sudden way. She was taking everything unusually well.

Jane shrugged her freckled shoulders, "Can I return to my room? Am I in the All-Clear?" She smiled at Esperanza, forcing the cloudiness out of her eyes.

The doctor narrowed her eyes at her, but after looking over her EKG and other various readings, nodding to herself. "I don't see why not, everything looks fine, your vitals are normal," Unplugging everything from Jane, she began speaking again, "Shepard, Karan found some extra clothes in one of the unused lockers; he thinks they'll fit you. You'll find them in your room, let me show you where it is,"

Dr. Esperanza gave Jane a full tour of the deck they were currently on, showing her both the Portside and Starboard Observation decks, the mess hall, the women's communal bathroom and finally to her guest chambers. Making sure that Shepard was completely fine before leaving her, she noted that the current deck they were one was fully open to her, and she could access any desired room at any time. Jane thanked her and looked at the guest chambers, and she was shocked at what she saw. The doctor smiled and left quietly, leaving Shepard to her thoughts.

There was a large dent in the wall, and the bed had been bolted to the floor, though the frame had been fully repaired- you could still see where it had been warped from her biotics. There was a stack of off-duty clothes for her, all black pants with blue stripes down the legs, gray tank tops, along with black zip-up jackets with the same blue stripes on the arms. She looked at her jeans and white tank top that she'd been wearing for the past six days now. There were smears of dirt and mud on her; she was stunned that Dr. Esperanza had let her stay in those clothes for so long, or even sleep in the med-bay being so dirty. Her fingers slid over the clothes, before taking her clothes off, and putting on the fresh pants and a tank top. The pants fit perfectly, but the tank was a little big for her. Moving the other set of clean clothes onto a nearby desk, she looked at her clothes on the floor.

She picked up her tank top, more of a light brown than white, and pulled the fabric to her face. It smelled of grass fields, freshly harvested wheat, and the woods behind her home, her mother's kitchen, Jane's sweat, and everything that Jane had lost. Gripping the shirt even tighter, her eyes spilled tears down her cheeks, but she wasn't angry at herself anymore. She just wanted her home back.

Lying on the bed, Jane pulled her knees to her chest and let the weight of her loss fall. _Everything is gone, and there's nothing I can do to change it._  Shepard finally began to open her heart and mourn the destruction of everything she had known. It was only then that she could move on to make sure that the name Shepard would never truly be forgotten.


	4. How to be Brave

It had been a full week on the SSV Hyderabad. Shepard had gotten acquainted with a few of the crew members, but had spent most of her time with Dr. Esperanza and Karan. Her heart still hurt from the loss of her world, but the pain lessened with each day. Jane had created a routine for herself to keep her mind and body busy for most of the day.

Wake up. Light Workout. Eat. Read on her Omnitool. Listen to Alliance military chatter. Talk with Dr. Esperanza. Eat again. Talk with Karan and other crew members. Shower. Read until she fell asleep.

That routine had been working pretty well for Jane, but she'd begun feeling restless. She brought it up to Karan while they were eating dinner one evening.

"So, how much longer until we get to the Gagarin Station?" Jane's voice was edged with anxiousness. Karan took note and chuckled.

"We'll get there soon enough. We have about six more days of travel until we arrive, but don't act so excited to leave," Karan responded with a tone of mocked hurt.

Jane smirked at him, "It's not that I want to leave, but I have been missing wide open spaces," Her eyes glanced around the mess hall, "I think I'm slowly starting to suffocate within these walls,"

"Shepard, if you plan on joining the Alliance Navy after you finish your biotics training, you better get used to it. These rooms become your home," His voice was soft, and Jane noticed that he did indeed consider the ship his home; his blue eyes gazing over certain areas of the mess hall with what she could only assume were fond memories.

"I'm just looking forward to being somewhere that has more room than this," She explained herself, her hand gesturing around the deck. "I'm not allowed on any other deck, and it's rather boring after staring at the same walls day in and day out," She wanted to change the subject, not desiring to think about metal walls closing in on her any longer. "Karan… When I get to Jump Zero, will you message me and keep in touch?"

His bright blue eyes perked up for a moment, but a tinge of remorse was revealed in their depths. "Shepard, I'm sorry, but the Gagarin Station is cut off from the extranet. No information comes or goes from there by anything but a physical datapad. They're incredibly strict about that,"

"Oh wow, they must be serious about this training program, to not even let anyone on the extranet," She murmured, suddenly realizing that she was committing two years of her life to a place she didn't know much about.

"You're going into the program late, which isn't your fault, but you'll have a lot of catching up to do. You'll be so busy, you won't even notice that I'm not there," Karan was trying to be encouraging, quelling Jane's fears about the station. However, nervousness stayed lit within her emerald irises, and she gave a small sigh.

"And what about this surgery I have to go through? You went through it, right?" Her mind was now bringing up every possible thing that might deter her from going to the Gagarin Station.

"They give you general anesthesia, but they can't put you under completely while insert the implant. If they did, your biotics would have the chance of short-circuiting the implant before it's even calibrated, it would be useless. However, it's only mildly discomforting, I got mine when I was older than you. Back then, there were very few biotics, and most of us can't compare to those that have powers now," His voice was calming, comforting her in a fatherly way.

They had finished eating, both of them standing up and moving their dishes to the sanitation station, and making their way to the hall. Jane was incredibly thankful for having found someone like Karan on the ship; he was able to calm her fears with just a few words. Most of the other crewmembers on the decks would talk to her, but Jane got the impression it was due to her being the lone survivor of Mindoir, or her biotic abilities that had put half the ship offline. She had heard her name whispered when she would walk through the mess hall. She didn't think anything that she had done was heroic, but some others did.

Karan didn't treat her any differently, and for that she was grateful. The older man was also inspiring. After being on the ship for only two weeks, Jane had decided she wanted to join the Alliance Navy when she was of age, due in no small part to Karan and his daily chats with her. She took a step towards her room before settling her jade eyes upon his form.

"I better head to the shower and ready myself for lights out, because I have so much to do tomorrow," Her sarcasm was clear, humor filtering through her voice and face with a smile. Karan nodded and headed towards the crews quarters, "See you tomorrow, Shepard,"

* * *

 

Shepard lay on her bed. Sleep had eluded her like a wild varren, her mind desperately snatching for dreams, while her body yearned to move freely. It was incredibly difficult acclimating to the small amount of space she had to live in, compared to the wide open spaces of her home. And each time she thought of Mindoir, it would bring darkness over her head, full of sadness and hate. Jane was still angry, but no longer at herself, she was angry with the Batarians, angry that another sentient being could consciously and willingly take another's life, or take another as a slave, treating them as less than a person. She wanted to hurt them, and that was what had been pushing at her body, willing her to move around and do something productive. However, Jane had been at a loss of anything productive to do.

Her light workouts were okay with keeping her fit, but they did nothing to increase her strength, and she truthfully didn't know the first thing about strength training or intense exercise. Her work on the farm had been more than enough work those days to keep her fit and in shape, sometimes even helping her build muscle when the crops were extremely productive.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, sitting with her head in her hands, she sighed. There's no use in fighting it, let's just look forward to this sleepless night… Jane had even worked out extra that day to make her body a little more tired than usual, but the confinement of ship walls had spurred on her extra energy be completely spent. The waterfall of red tresses had a pale hand run through them, before Shepard stood and started to leave her room. Dressed in her sweat pants and grey tank top, she went out in search of something to occupy her mind.

Wandering through the hall, Jane walked past the crew quarters, the life support area and the mess hall before reaching the port observation deck. The door slid open with a nearly soundless whoosh and she walked into the room, an extensive window revealing the galaxy's stars moving by quickly. There weren't any lights on, the only illumination was provided by the stars gliding quickly past the glass opening. Her footsteps lead her to the glass, and she pressed a palm against it, leaning her head against the cool surface, hoping for a mental relief from her daily stresses.

The expanse of space calmed Jane, making her realize that she was just a very small piece of a very giant puzzle in the universe. She thought about everything she would be doing in the future, different worlds she would visit, the action she would see, the technology she would utilize, the races that she would meet…

The last thought made her blood run cold. Jane didn't want to meet another race like the Batarians. In fact, she wasn't sure that she wanted to meet any other race, not at the moment. In her historical civilities class on Mindoir, Jane had been taught on how the Turians had initiated war with the Humans, and there was still a lot of tension between the races. When the humans gained entry to the Citadel and given an ambassador's position there, many more races became incensed at the humans for their aggressiveness, and now the Batarians were pissed for the humans expanding into the Terminus Systems. Jane wasn't sure what would happen if she met another Batarian so soon after losing Mindoir.

Without Jane realizing, her hand had went from a flat palm against the glass and formed a fist that she held from the window. Shepard had a huge urge to punch the closest thing in her vicinity, but swallowed the anger instead, her fist falling to her side.

"I was worried you were going to break the window for a minute there, Shepard," Karan's familiar voice rang out of the darkness, and Jane jumped at his voice. The intense emotions she'd been feeling drained out of her face as she noticed Karan sitting on a bench in a dark corner of the room. His bright blue eyes were settled on her, his blonde hair stark against the shadows he sat in.

"Karan! You almost gave me a heart attack. Why didn't you say anything when I walked in?" Shepard gave him a curious look as she sat beside him.

"I come here quite often after my shift, a nice place to settle my thoughts. However, this is the first time I've ever seen you in here," He didn't offer more of an answer to her question, but continued talking. "What brings you here in the middle of the night, anyway? Bad dreams?"

Jane shook her head, "More like no dreams, lately I've had so much pent-up energy that I'm not tired enough to sleep. Days run together here, even with simulated 'Night Cycles' and designated eating times,"

Karan nodded in understanding, "Yeah, it'll take you a little while to get used to it. I remember it took me about two months before I really adjusted. That's not what you thinking about over there, though…" His words trailed off as he gestured to where she had been standing at the window. "Your anger was nearly tangible. Shepard, if you're beating yourself up about not being able to help your family-"

"I'm angry at the Batarians." Shepard's voice cut him off roughly, surprising herself with her tone. "Sorry. I've just been thinking about how nearly every race is against us. The Turians despise us, so do the Batarians, and countless of other races that are on the Citadel. I just don't know if I can face them with everything that they've done to our people," Her hands hand clenched into fists again.

Karan put his hand on her shoulder, and spoke in a fatherly manner. "Jane… Humans are new in this galactic capacity within the universe. We've only been interacting with species outside of our galaxy for a few decades. Yes, there will be those individuals that don't care for our species, but many other individuals will welcome us into their galaxies on onto their planets. You can't judge these people on their races, but as individuals. There will always be those people that don't like you and those that do. Even other humans will despise you for simply being born off of Earth. Everyone's different," Jane had turned her head, and his azure irises pierced her emerald gaze.

He continued, "What matters is how you respond to those individuals. Every time that you meet another person of a different race, it is your responsibility to show them the good traits and values of our own race. You must exemplify our characteristics and show them how much we deserve to be a part of the universe as a whole. If each Human were to do that, the other races of the Citadel would be much more inclined to welcome us with open arms. There will always be situations or occurrences outside of your control, but you can always control how you will respond," He took his hand off her shoulder, and Jane felt as though weigh had been added to her body instead of taken away.

"I know my little speech won't completely change your mind, especially about Batarians. But you need to know that when you join the Alliance, there will be times when all you have around you are other species. You just have to get past physical differences and be yourself, besides, you're going to be around plenty of Turians soon enough," He finished speaking, still looking at her, a smirk rose on his face.

"What? Why would I be meeting Turians anytime soon?" She wasn't panicking about it, but it would be the first time she would meet another species up close.

"When the BAaT program started, I had nearly finished my training with the Navy. However, I was invited to go and take additional Biotics training, which I desperately needed. Humans really don't have that great of a handle on how to train Biotics, so they hired Turian Mercs to come and train humans on how to use their powers. It's a great experience, even though some of the Turians aren't that fond of humans," Karan explained.

"I still need to be myself around them," Jane told herself. "Now that I know I'll be meeting some Turians soon, I think I should become familiar with some of their customs," She stood up, her auburn hair just a red-black hue in the dark room as she pushed some out of her face.

"Thank you, Karan. I'm glad to have someone here that doesn't think of me as just the 'girl who blew a Batarian shuttle to shit' or the 'kick-ass Mindoir survivor'," Her words were directly quoted from some whispers she'd heard earlier in the day.

"Goodnight, Shepard," Karan nodded to her. She returned the gesture and made it back to her room, no more tired. However, now she had some material to look up on the Extranet and read about.

* * *

 

After six days of looking up as much information as she could on the Turians, and their customs, as well as their behaviors, the day had come.

She was excited, but anxious about what lay ahead of her.

Shepard stood in the starboard observation deck, watching the Gagarin Station come into view. It was a large station, with enough docking ports for at least twenty ships, if not more. Karan stood beside her, and she felt her heart ache a little at knowing she wouldn't be able to see or talk to him for almost two years. She would be isolated from the Extranet and most outside information, but she had a mission ahead of her.

Shepard had resolved to herself the night before, she would do her absolute best in the program. She wanted to be stronger, faster, better than she was at the moment. Jane wanted to be able to help others across the galaxies, to atone for those she couldn't help on Mindoir. She wouldn't be helpless anymore. From now on, I'll do more than just survive… She told herself. Jane's face reflected that of a determined young woman, her demeanor calm but ready.

As they came closer to the station, Karan walked up behind her, a few others following in his wake. His eyes glanced at her face and he spoke softly, "Ready?"

Shepard nodded her head, "Ready. Let's move out,"

He lead her through the deck back to the elevator that she'd only been on once before. As they passed the med-bay, she waved goodbye to Dr. Esperanza. The doctor mouthed a few words to Jane as she went by, it looked like 'Good Luck,' and young girl nodded with a smile.

By the time they reached the airlock, going through hallways and rooms that disoriented Jane thoroughly, the SSV Hyderabad had already docked. Jane stepped into the inner chamber that connected the ship to the dock, and only Karan stepped in with her. She gave him an excited smile, and waited for the scans and depressurization to be done before the door in front of them opened.

Shepard took the first step out, and the room wasn't much different from the one she'd just left. It was a short hallway that opened up into a central registration station, a good number of staff and others at their positions. Karan walked out of the airlock and stood beside her.

"This is as far as I go, Shepard. They have all your information at the desk. They'll tell you where to go and you'll get acquainted with other new recruits and be assigned to a room. I'm sure you're going to do incredibly well," Karan had a look of a proud father as he stood watching Shepard gain her bearings.

Jane looked up at him, and moved to face him, taking a deep breath. "Thanks for everything, Karan," As he began to speak, she gave him a quick hug, and then took off down the hallway.

Jane didn't want to say goodbye. She had already said goodbye to her old life, and she didn't anticipate ever having to say goodbye to this new one.


	5. You Can Take Everything I Have

"What's your name?" Shepard was beginning to think this was Déjà vu as she stared at the older woman behind the desk.

"Shepard. Jane Shepard. I came in on the SSV Hyderabad," The woman seemingly ignored every word coming out of Jane's mouth as she typed incessantly into her system. Jane was about to repeat what she said until the woman began speaking.

"Jane Shepard. Age: sixteen, height: 172 centimeters, weight: 54.5 kilograms. Lone survivor of Batarian attacks on Mindoir, found by SSV Hyderabad. You will head down the hall on your right and deposit your belongings for decontamination and receive your uniforms," The woman finally looked up and waved her hand down the hall, handing her a card that had been printed out from her system.

The long hallway lead into another larger room, with counters that had a few people behind them, the room was nothing but young girls undressing to their underwear.  _Well this is just wonderful…_  Jane thought with derision, but no one seemed to mind the fact that the girls had to give up their belongings.

Following suit, she walked up to the counter, with her clothes folded in a pile, and handed them over with the card that registration had given her. Another older woman from behind the counter, took her clothes without a second thought, but grabbed Jane's arm as she noted the Omni-tool on her arm. Looking at the card on the pile of clothes, the older woman spoke tersely, "Shepard, you must relinquish  _all_  belongings. That includes your Omni-tool. They will be waiting for you in your room after you receive your uniform and are assigned to a squad.

Jane nodded numbly, but the effort it took to take her simple black sleeve off her forearm seemed too much. She rarely took it off, only to take showers, and immediately put it on. It was the only thing she owned from her past, and parting with it, even for only a few moments, was unbearable. With a large breath, she set it on the pile of clothes gently.

She truly felt naked at that moment. Looking at the other recruits, she found the same feeling hiding within their eyes. She was motioned to the next room, and there were lines being formed by the girls, and they were being checked individually by a doctor at the end of each line. There weren't that many recruits, only a dozen or so, but Jane took the shorter of the two lines, stopping behind a short girl with blonde hair. The girl glanced at her with honey-brown eyes, but quickly averted her gaze towards the front of the line once more.

When Jane reached the front of her line, she answered a few questions before the doctor pulled her to the side.

"Shepard, Jane. You have not yet received implants for your biotics. If you will follow me…" The doctor trailed off as she led Jane along a hallway that had multiple doors. The young girls that had been waiting behind her gave audible groans as they walked away. The doctor stopped at the third door they came to and ushered Shepard inside. It wasn't much different from a doctor's office, but there was much more equipment jammed into a small room, screens along a wall, as well as a chair that the doctor motioned for Shepard to sit in.

"The surgeon, Dr. Canis, will be here shortly after I administer the general anesthesia, then he will begin the surgery. It will not take any longer than an hour, but you are required to stay awake during the procedure. The implants you are receiving are the newest ones we have available, the L3-Rs. They will enable you to efficiently and quickly utilize your biotics without suffering any migraines or physical set-backs, even after using biotics for extended periods of time," A hologram appeared to the side of Shepard, showing her what the implant looked like, and explaining how it would fit behind her ear, and the process of the surgery.

Jane had never been afraid of needles, she even watched as it went into her skin, delivering the relief agent, her body feeling lighter as she watched the clear liquid entering her arm. The doctor moved the chair into a position where Jane was lying back, and the woman left Jane. Closing her green eyes, Jane laid in silence, thinking to herself, realizing how strange Gagarin Station was to the Navy starship she had left only a couple hours ago.

The surgeon entered with a few more people to assist him in the surgery. Jane had been surprised, Dr. Canis was a Salarian. The young biotic didn't seem overly concerned as he approached her, her eyes taking in his spotted skin and white lab coat. He spoke quickly to Jane, but most of his words had become a blur as the anesthesia had flowed through her veins. Turning her head to the right, Dr. Canis showed her the implant.

Jane remembered the words Dr. Canis spoke as he explained the incisions he made. Jane remembered the fact that she couldn't feel the pain he was inflicting upon her. Jane remembered the cold metal implant sliding into her skull. Jane remembered the first few shocks of pain as the implant connected with her mind.

And Jane would never forget the feeling of the implant activating her biotics in a way her emotions never could before. The power overwhelmed Jane just as Dr. Canis had finished stitching her up, and she blacked out as a wave of blue lightning crashed over her.

* * *

Jane had slept most of the three days she had been allotted to recover from the surgery. When she had awoke from her surgery, Jane had found herself in a room with nothing more than a dresser full of her old clothes, new uniforms, and her Omni-tool, and the bed she had been on. Jane had immediately put on her Omni-tool, feeling infinitely better with the familiar object on, and dressed in a uniform that first recovery day.

She had only come out of the room for food and when Dr. Canis wanted to follow-up on her surgery. He was incredibly thorough, and she had realized that Karan had been right; individuals should be based on their own merits, not the merits of their race. Even though most Salarians were incredibly intelligent, most were known to be distant and emotionless. Dr. Canis had heart, and was fully invested in the care and always showed concern for his patients.

Her three days being up, she was to be assigned to a squad on this day. Leaving her room, she came into a long hallway. This hallway was lined with doors that were identical to her door, and hit the bathrooms if you went left, but when taken to the right, would lead one to the mess hall and beyond that, the training areas, "classrooms", observation/recreation decks and the faculty's rooms. Jane had been told the day prior to report to Training Room R-IV at 0630 hours.

As she made her way through the mess hall, she noted that there were only a few other students awake, and she wondered why she needed to arrive at the classroom so early. Brushing strands of red behind her ears, she located the R-Wing with classrooms numbered from I to X. Jane stood in front of the door labeled IV, and after taking a deep breath, opened the door and walked through.

The nearly empty room had a large window that had stars slowly moving into and out of view, with a small pluto able to be seen far off. There was no extraneous furniture except for a monitor that took up the entire far wall, and a hologram display in the center of the room. None of these things Jane paid any attention to. Her full attention was on the figure by the window.

By the window, standing with its back to Jane, was a large Turian. Jane could only assume it was a Turian, with a body that was over a foot taller than her own form, long and angular limbs. The Turian was dressed in a blue and white exosuit that matched her uniform, showing off his defined muscles underneath the suit. The sight was impending and breath-taking, Jane suddenly understood how a caged bird might feel in the presence of a hungry feline.

The Turian began to turn as the door swished closed, and Jane noticed that his carapace was black, the color of starless space, but he had a pattern of white flames that went over every face-plate. The most striking feature that the Turian had was his eyes. They were a light blue, almost silver in the lights of the training room, and Jane felt as though they were piercing her soul. She stood straight, her arms going behind her back, one hand grasping the other's wrist to make sure she didn't make too much movement.

"Jane Shepard?" His voice was dual-toned, the flanging effect she'd read about made it seem as though his voice was deeper. She observed that for a Turian, his voice was incredibly polite and polished, and Jane wondered what type of family he came from.

"Yes, sir?" She forced her bright emerald eyes to meet his unflinchingly, keeping her stance.

"I'm Lt. Tiberus Oraka. I will be your instructor. I was informed of your situation by the Alliance. You are the one of the oldest people we've recruited on this station before, and you have the least amount of time to prepare. We typically have a certain time that recruits of each age are taken in, but we were forced to accept you as a ward of the Alliance. As a result, you will report to me at this time each morning for the next few months until you are caught up with the rest of the class. Unfortunately, that means that you will miss out on most of the physical training aspects that we put our classes through," Oraka clipped each of these words out of his mouth easily and professionally.

He continued, "We will train every morning until the rest of your classmates get here at 0830 hours, then you will follow in suit with our morning practices. When we break for lunch, you will go to the A-Wing and review concepts and training videos until I deem that you are ready for the full class. Dinner is served at 0530 hours and you are allowed four hours of recreational time until curfew. When a biotic first comes into their power, they become easily tired after using biotics for any amount of time, and you will likely feel tired after only an hour or so the first few days. You may refer to me as Lt. Oraka," Oraka seemed to add those last few words as an after-thought, but Jane simply nodded. "Do you have any questions for me?"

Jane opened her mouth, but then shook her head. "Won't there be other opportunities for me to do some physical training? Isn't that just as important?"

He gave an uncharacteristic shrug, Jane didn't even know that Turians could shrug, "Physical training is not necessary in this program; I am here to help you fully understand and utilize your biotic powers. The only time you would even need some physical skills are at the end of our program training, during the simulated missions," His voice gave off the tone that he could care less whether or not she was fully prepared in the end. That ticked Jane off just slightly, but it was enough for her emotions to rush to the surface.

"If the simulated missions at the end of the program are important, which I'm sure they are, don't they warrant me having some sort of physical training… sir?" She had added the 'sir' to the end after realizing how sharp her voice sounded. Her tone and words had stirred something within the Turian as she spoke, because his…  _fringe, isn't that what they call it?_ They had moved just slightly, seeming longer if that was possible.

"Shepard, it is my sole responsibility to make sure you are a fully-capable biotic. I don't give a pyjak's ass if you don't know how to duck or move into cover. I could care less; however, if I see that you're advancing well enough, I will shorten our morning sessions by two weeks and that will give you the ability of having two weeks in class of physical training. If I don't see improvement, then we will continue with the initial schedule until the determined time," He didn't leave it up to her, and rather ended the conversation there.

"Now, if you're done with complaining?" His voice had never relayed that he was angry with her for questioning him, which surprised Jane. She had read how the subordinates in the Turian Hierarchy would never be allowed to question commands or orders, and if they did, there would be hell to pay. She supposed that he was playing by Human rules while on the station.

"That was the only question I had," She still wasn't satisfied with only being given two weeks of physical training, but it was better than nothing. Perhaps later, she could find a play to do her light workouts after class…

"Wonderful. Now, we are first going to go over how to manipulate your biotics…"

* * *

Tiberus had been correct in the fact that Shepard would tire easily during the biotics training, but she had lasted for more than an hour. At one point, Tiberus had thought Jane would quit, her arms shaking while manipulating a small ball of dark energy in her hands, but her face was set in determination and she successfully released the ball to have it disperse against the far wall. By the time they were finished that morning, it had been only an hour and a half, but Jane had soaked through her uniform with sweat, when Tiberus finally stopped their training.

Jane felt strain and fatigue radiating throughout every muscle in her body as she managed to walk to the door. She managed to look normal walking to the door, but Lt. Oraka stopped her with his words, "Shepard, don't bother coming back for the morning practices this week. You're going to need to your energy for our morning sessions. Remember to eat more as well, biotics use much more energy when exerting their powers,"

Jane began to protest, "Sir, I'm fine to come back for the normal class…" She took a long breath to steady her voice, but Tiberus shook his head in that moment, a chuckle escaping his mouth.

"Shepard. Stop being a pain in my ass and get some rest. I'm not Commander Vyrnnus, I'd rather not have a human dying on my watch," His voice was surprisingly calming, but stern. Jane wanted to protest further, but she felt her energy waning quickly. Nodding, she left for the mess hall; she had forgotten to eat breakfast that morning.

Moving slowly through the hallways, she was able to look normal walking, even though her body was screaming at her. There were many more people in the mess hall; Jane estimated it to be around forty or fifty brain camp students in total, which was probably close to how many there were in the complete program. It was thirty minutes before normal classes started, so Shepard shouldn't have been surprised to see how many people were in the large mess hall.

Grabbing some food out of the line, she sat at one of the few empty tables; she was hoping she could go over in her head what she'd learned that morning in the training room. However, only ten minutes went by and a girl had sat at the table, sitting across from Jane.

Glancing up from her food for only a second, Jane realized it was the girl that had been standing in front of her at the line the day before.

"Hi," The blonde girl spoke softly.

"Hello," Jane's reply was quick.

"My name's Amber, what's yours?" The girl's name matched her eyes, Jane noticed absent-mindedly.

"Shepard," Curt replies were meant to stop conversation in its tracks.

"Shepard? Is that your real name?" To no avail, this girl would continue asking questions.

"It's the name I go by," Jane gave the blonde a sharp look, making sure that Amber understood she didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Oh, well… That's interesting. Where are you from?" Amber had a very small voice; Jane was reminded of field mice.

"Mindoir," Jane had finished her food, and picking up her tray, began to move away from table.

Amber's friendly countenance had crumpled into hurt as Jane started to leave, but Jane really didn't want to rehash her history with a complete stranger. She didn't want pity or sympathy from anyone, she was here to train and become the best she could for the Alliance, not to waste breath bringing up memories that were meant to be hidden.

Shepard's heart softened at Amber's expression, and she spoke one last time. "I'm incredibly tired; I just finished my training for this morning. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Jane really didn't want to make that commitment, but a part of her simply couldn't leave the girl in the saddened state that Jane herself had caused.

Amber lightened up at her words and nodded, "I'll see you later, Shepard,"

* * *

Jane had gone to her room and passed out after an hour or two of reading some material the Brain Camp employees had provided her. She had slept for the longest amount of time since the attack on Mindoir. For once, there weren't any dead eyes staring at her, or whispers in her mind of how she shouldn't have survived whilst sleeping. They had all been washed away by her exhaustion at her training that morning.

 _Speaking of training, Lt. Oraka seems very different from how I imagined Turians…_  Jane thought to herself. She expected him to be cold and calculating, but he'd been the opposite. He was still authoritative and demanded respect, but he didn't want to push anyone past their limits. It seemed that he actually cared about her, rather than caring about results. It was something to admire.

Jane looked over at the clock that sat on her dresser. 2100 hours. She'd slept for eleven straight hours.  _How is that even possible?_  Jane didn't worry about it too much, never having fully utilized biotics, she was sure it would take time for her body to adjust to using so much energy, but coupled with the fact that she hadn't truly slept since Mindoir, Jane could understand the long sleep she'd taken.

Now she was wide awake.

Sitting up, she hurriedly dressed in her casual clothing uniform that was to be used during recreational time, the outfit being a simple pair of black sweat pants and a white t-shirt with the Brain Camp's logo on it. She wanted to grab some food before the mess hall closed for the night, and she only had half an hour.

Making it to the mess hall in time, she ate ravenously, but was quickly ushered back to her room by a staff member to make it to bed in time for curfew.

Shepard wasn't remotely tired, the food only fueling her mind and body after the great rest she'd gotten. She was pacing her small room when she was struck with an idea. She could do her light workouts at night, at least until she was ready to go through a whole day of biotics trainings.

Surveying the door, she noted that it had locked itself at exactly 0930 hours, the interface on the door turning red. Moving towards it, she connected her Omni-tool to the interface, and Jane successfully hacked the door, the light becoming green.  _I guess the faculty never expected a student to attempt to leave._  Jane gave with a quiet chuckle, checking the hallway for any signs of movement.

She had taken a quick stroll of the entire deck before meeting with Tiberus earlier that day, and knew that there were very spacious observation decks that would be perfect for her workouts. Mentally retracing her steps, Jane was able to make it to the decks without being detected. In fact, the hallways and rooms seemed devoid of any crewmembers at all, staff or faculty.

There were four large observation decks, and beyond them were the hallways that led to the crew's rooms. There were two decks on each side of the hall, and Shepard took the first one on the right. These decks weren't locked, but seeing how empty the hallways were, Shepard wasn't concerned about someone seeing her. Plus, it was her first day on the station, she doubted if she would be in any serious trouble.

The observation deck only had three solid walls, and the third was nothing but glass, emptying out into the beautiful view of Pluto that the Station had. Shepard was always entranced by the view of the stars, you couldn't see this many even when in the midst of a field on Mindoir, away from the light pollution. It was a view that Jane promised to never take for granted.

As she looked away from it, Jane began going through her workout routine that she'd developed on the SSV Hyderabad, knowing that she'd have plenty of time to take in the view later.


	6. Save Regrets for the Broken

"You think that's going to impress anyone?" Tiberus scoffed at the small ball of dark energy that Jane had released. Another early morning, but for the past week, Jane had been exercising in the observation deck each night for hours. And it seemed that Lt. Oraka was exceptionally taunting that morning. "A mewling varren could do better than that pathetic display,"  _Yes, definitely in a taunting mood…_  The thought set a determined mask upon her face.

Jane took a deep breath and summoned the energy again. Blue electricity danced over her arms and into her hands, a much larger ball of energy settling in her hands. She was learning how to throw her balls farther and farther away, but she was still having problems being able to keep the energy stable from only a few yards away. Lifting the ball in her palms, her body was tiring quickly, and she released it at the wall that was less than 5 yards away. Struggling against the energy, the ball made it nearly to the end. Sky blue eyes were staring her down.

Jane had noticed the last few days that Oraka had been staring at her during their morning routines. It was as if he was studying every speck of her underneath a microscope, scrutinizing every movement and action. It made her uneasy, and she hoped he wouldn't notice how tired she was that morning.

"Again," spoke his calm, flanging voice.

She nodded, brushing sweaty locks behind her ear, and performed the same action each time. Oraka's demeanor had changed; he had her repeat the biotic exercise six more times. On the last attempt, Jane fell to her knees, the ball being drawn back into her body, not even able to release it. Her head felt light, but she fought to stand up again. They hadn't even been training for their normal length of time, and she was already exhausted.

"Lt. Oraka… I think I need a break…" Jane's breathing was ragged, her exo-suit was drenched, and her muscles were screaming at her.

The Turian knelt in front of her, "We're not done. You haven't even been training for an hour," He barked, "Get up,"

"Yes, sir," Jane hadn't been successful at trying to getting onto her feet the first time, and she wouldn't be successful this time either. Her body protested too much. Jane shook her head in defeat. "I can't," Her voice was a whisper.  _Why is he pushing me so hard? He can clearly see I can't do any more…_

Tiberus shook his head, and did something unexpected. As he stood, his hands grabbed her shoulders, and brought her face to look straight at his, her feet dangling in the air. This is what it truly felt like to be a bird pinned by a cat. Jane's wide green eyes stared into Tiberus' cold blue ones. Seconds seemed to pass like hours, emeralds gazing at sapphires.

"I guess I'll just inform the faculty who has been taking a nightly walk through observation deck one. I wonder how they'll deal with the perpetrator…" His words made Jane's jaw drop, grasping at an explanation.

"Sir… I-I can explain..." Her mind failed her at a decent explanation, Tiberus cutting her feeble attempt at talking her way out of it.

"Shepard, I told you that you would not be participating in the physical training part of the course, your biotics have to take priority. This is just further proof that you aren't ready to do both," He set her down, and she was steady on her feet once more.

"I can do both!" Jane protested, a spark igniting within her. Tiberus lifted a brow plate as he crossed his arms.

"Really? Then what is this pitiful display of biotics that I've been seeing today? Have you just been playing around? Did you just want an excuse for me to help you up?" His voice held a hint of humor in it, but he was intrigued by this turn of events.

Jane was still fuming at Oraka telling her that she was incapable. "I've just been warming up," Her voice lied. "I'm fine,"

"Oh? Well then, Jane Shepard, I will give you a proposition," Tiberus gestured towards her, "If you prove to me with a demonstration of your current biotic power, right now, that you can continue, then I will not alert anyone of your nightly presence in the observation deck," He continued while walking over to her, "However… if you can't, then you must stop your evening workouts or face the staff's decision on what to do with an unruly BAaT trainee,"

He was looming over her, his face watching hers for a decision to be made. Jane's eyes hardened, her brow furrowing and she glared at Tiberus, her stance was aggressive, as was her voice. "No one tells me that I'm incapable of  _anything_ ,"

Igniting on her last word was a fist, full of blue electricity that connected to Tiberus' faceplate. It wasn't a strong punch by any means, leaving less than a scratch on the Turian's carapace. However, it had been startling enough that the blow knocked Lt. Oraka backwards a few feet. It had taken a few seconds for him to realize that Jane was no longer standing in front of him.

She had crumpled to the floor in exhaustion, using the last reserve of her biotics to hit him. A chuckle escaped the Turian's throat as he looked over the young woman passed out at his feet.

"You are the biggest pain in the ass I've ever known, Jane Shepard," He said to himself, picking her up in his arms and taking her to the Med-Bay.

* * *

"Can't I see her for a moment?" A small, female voice spoke. Jane's mind was slowly pulling itself out of a fog.  _What happened?_ Jane thought to herself. Opening an eye, her head felt like it was on fire, blood throbbing through her veins, an immense pain forcing her eye shut.

"She's not conscious at the moment, she has yet to wake from exhausting herself earlier," The female voice was recognizable; she had been the one to escort Shepard to the surgery room over a week ago.

"I won't wake her, I promise. I just wanted to make sure she was okay," The small voice, Jane realized, was Amber, the blonde girl that had been sitting at her lunch table every day, eating and talking with her, regardless of whether or not Jane spoke a word. Now she was here, checking up on her, making sure that she was okay. Guilt filled Jane's stomach, and she resolved to be much more kind to the girl, besides, Shepard couldn't push everyone away from her. Plus, Amber's persistence was growing on her.

Jane heard light footsteps make their way towards the bed she was in, and she forced her eyes to open. Taking a deep breath as the light seared pain into her brain, Jane felt the initial pangs recede. The pain lessened as she became accustomed to the Med-Bay lights.

"Shepard! You're awake!" Amber's exclamation was quiet, but Jane simply nodded to her.

"How are you feeling?" Amber continued, looking over Shepard's form.

"Like I was head-butted by a Krogan," Jane gave a small cough, and sat up on the bed. Her eyes focused on Amber's features, and she realized that the younger girl was indeed worried about Jane. "Amber, I'm fine,"

"I know that, Shepard. It's just… some of us were on the way to our classes, and then Lt. Oraka came rushing past us with you in his arms. I've never seen him move so fast," Amber took a seat in the stool, staring into Jane's eyes. "I'm not in Lt. Oraka's squad, I'm in Commander Vyrnnus' class, and he frequently sends people to the Med-Bay t-that… well, they don't come back," Amber's eyes had dropped from looking at Jane, now staring at the floor. It was as if Amber was back in the classroom, watching someone being carted to the Med-Bay.

"When I saw Lt. Oraka carrying you to the Med-Bay, I wasn't sure if I would see you again," Amber finished.

"Actually, it was my fault that I'm in here. I haven't started my normal training in the daily classes, because I'm so new, but Oraka is an excellent teacher. He never makes me do something that is past my capabilities, but I tend to go overboard in our morning training," Jane shared sheepishly, and she was shocked to find that she enjoyed conversation with Amber.

"Well, you're lucky to have Lt. Oraka, I've heard that since he's the youngest brain camp trainer, he is fairly reserved in his teachings. On the other hand, Commander Vyrnnus is the oldest trainer; he even told me that he was 'on the dreadnought that killed my father in the first contact war'," Amber had attempted the last part of her sentence using her 'turian accent' that made Jane chuckle.

"So Oraka is the youngest? He seems pretty old to me," Jane murmured.

"Oh yeah, I overheard some of the crewmembers talking about him. They didn't understand why the Alliance hired him, because he's only twenty. I guess beggars can't be choosers when dealing with covert operations," Amber supplied.

Jane nodded, finding the information intriguing, and responded, "Yeah, I was pissed when I found out that they had blocked the entire Extranet from my Omni-tool. That ruined my plans for Galactic Domination," Amber laughed at Jane's response, a high-pitched, lilting noise.

"I think you're the only student I've seen with an Omni-tool on Jump Zero. Did your parents give it to you?" Amber asked. It was an innocent enough question.

Jane decided to give an answer devoid of emotion, keeping her from being pitied. "Yeah, My dad gave it to me a few weeks before I got here,"

They continued chatting, Jane slowly regaining her strength until it was time for them to return to their rooms. Coincidentally, they had rooms on the same hall, only a few doors down from one another.

Sitting on her bed, Jane was satisfied that she had decided to finally let someone into her life. _Besides, it's not as if any of my friends can come back from the dead…_  Her thoughts were not so depressing when she looked back on Mindoir. She was letting it go. It was hard, but slowly, surely, she would make new friends, she would have new passions, new loves, but she would always remember. She would never forget.

* * *

Even after the ordeal with Jane having to be taken to the Med-Bay, she still left her all-too-comfortable bed to sneak into Obs. Deck One. She had successfully made it to the deck, but she froze at the sight that lay before her as the doors slid open silently.

Lt. Tiberus Oraka was standing with his back to the window, facing her with his arms crossed in front of him, and his sky blue eyes staring at her, as if he had been waiting this whole time to catch her in the act. He was dressed in casual clothes, which were nearly identical to her's, midnight black pants with blue stripes, and a type of Turian jacket that was the same colors. His white markings were stark against his dark carapace, and for the third time, Jane felt as if she were prey-of-choice for a large predator. Against her better judgment, she stepped into the observation deck, letting the door close behind her.

"What are you doing here?" They said at the same time, Jane's tone of voice being disbelief, while Tiberus' held a hint of anger.

Jane broke first, "I'm fully entitled to be here. I fulfilled your conditions this morning,"

"Shepard, you need to be resting, you  _stubborn_  Human," Tiberus let out a huff, walking towards her.

Crossing her arms in a similar posture as him, she spoke. "I'm fine,"

"You said that this morning, I believe. Right before you passed out," His voice didn't hold any anger in it, but he was half-humored, half-annoyed with how much Jane felt the need to prove herself.

"I can pass another one of your challenges, if I need to prove my point," Jane shifted her body, one hip jutting out farther than the other. "But you haven't told me why  _you're_  here," She continued.

"I came here to try -  _unsuccessfully_ , might I add - and stop one of my more foolish students from killing herself. She has this potential to become something great, but she also has this frustrating blindness to the fact that she's not immortal. She needs to understand that a person has to rest," Tiberus unfolded his arms, "But I see that she's too hard-headed to take my advice. So, I guess my only other option is to stay here and make sure that she doesn't push herself to the brink again,"

Jane opened her mouth to protest, but realizing that Tiberus was correct, closed her mouth just as quickly.

"I don't need a babysitter. Especially someone that's only a few years older than me," Jane quipped, a smirk forming on her lips.

The Turian tilted his head, his mandibles flaring slightly. He took a step towards her, "How is that relevant? I'm your superior, Shepard,"

Jane, mimicking him, took a step towards him, "I'm simply stating that I don't think someone who's three years older than me, could attempt to stop me," Her voice held an air of challenge. She cocked her head to the side, becoming the mirror image to him.

"It seems that someone needs to be put in their place," Tiberus growled, but Jane was feeling confident. She had slept well, and the conversation with Amber has ignited a fire that had long been burnt out.

Jane hadn't realized until too late, that Lt. Oraka had taken a few more steps towards her, and he was nearly looming over her smaller figure. He took her by surprise, lunging towards her and pushing her to the ground. He had her trapped on the floor, his arms pinning her body so that she couldn't move either way.

She managed to free one of her arms from between their bodies, and she gave him a hard shove. One arm came off the ground, and she took that moment to roll from underneath him, and stabilized herself in a crouching position a few feet away from him.

Tiberus had been shocked at how strong Jane was, but he quickly regained his footing, and they began to circle each other. He noted how her hair seemed like fire in the dim light of the observation deck, and how her eyes glowed like hot emeralds. Her movements were precise and confident; he was fascinated by the difference in her now, versus when he taught her in the morning.

His thoughts had pre-occupied him enough that Jane caught him off-guard, having crept closer to him and using a slight biotic charge, knocked him to the floor by shouldering him in the chest. She attempted to pin him, putting one leg on either side of his hips, having to stretch in order to pin his arms by his head.

Jane had never sparred before, but Tiberus outranked her in reach and strength, being nearly a foot taller than her, and he was easily able to manipulate her weaker arms with his. Within seconds, Shepard was laying on the ground, underneath Tiberus, without a clue as to why she had lost the fight.

He had a stronger grip this time, and although she struggled a little harder than the first time, Jane knew she wouldn't be able to get out of Oraka's hold this time. The Turian biotic had accounted for her unknown strength and then some when he pinned her.

"I yield," Her voice was quiet, as she looked at him. She noticed how close their faces were, and how she could see every face plate defined, even in the darkness. However, it was his eyes that made Jane's breath stop. This close, the light blue eyes looked as if they were alive, his eyes made of pure biotic power. His eyes were staring at her just as intensely, and they laid there in silence for a few seconds.

Abruptly, Tiberus stood up, pulling Jane up with him, "Now, how about you go rest this evening, and tomorrow, I'll show you how a real soldier fights," Their eyes still watching the others', and Jane nodded.

A small smirk appeared on her face again as she walked to the exit, "How do you know I just won't go into one of the other observation decks?"

Tiberus began walking towards her quickly, "Stubborn Human, I can simply knock you out, if you insist," His voice was growling again, but Jane no longer felt threatened by Tiberus. She knew that he would never harm her intentionally; she'd learned that from his past actions, and from what Amber had said earlier that day.

Jane walked backwards in time with his steps towards her, "Good Night, Lt. Oraka, I'll see you in the morning," With a wave, she soundlessly made her way back to her room, a pair of bright blue eyes following her figure down the hall.


	7. Stay Awake with Me

Shepard sat on the edge of her bed that night, her head in her hands. Questions were rushing through her mind faster than light, and she needed answers. Why was Lt. Oraka being so kind to her? Why did he offer to train her at night instead of just letting her come to the physical training classes in the afternoon? Why did she feel so on edge with him around?

Jane wasn't sure to think of any of it, and she sighed deeply, lying back on her bed.

Sleep was eluding her, most likely because her body was accustomed to staying up and wearing itself out with exercise. Perhaps if she just went back to the observation deck for an hour or two, she could tire herself out enough to sleep…

She couldn't do that, Lt. Oraka trusted her to follow his orders. And Jane's thoughts were back on the midnight-colored Turian. Jane remembered how intrigued she was at his agility, Oraka being rather large in mass; she didn't know how fast he could move. She'd been pleasantly surprised, recounting how his muscles had easily cooperated to pin her on the floor, and how his eyes had felt as if they were piercing her soul. Sighing again, she resigned herself to a night of restlessness.

As predicted, Jane had gone with little to no sleep, her body wired from her encounter with Tiberus. Her thoughts had also created turmoil within her -so much the night before- she was lingering in the mess hall for longer than her usual breakfast. She even ended up late to her and Oraka's morning biotics training.

Stepping in through the door of the training room, Jane was met with a pair of blue eyes staring at her. Unfamiliar warmth rolled through her stomach, but she continued walking towards Tiberus, meeting his eyes unflinchingly.

"Why are you late?" His voice wasn't harsh, simply curious as he studied her form.

"I don't have an excuse, can we just start?" Jane didn't want to delve into her private contemplations from the night prior, powering up her biotics as an indication that she didn't want to talk.

Lt. Oraka accepted Jane's words without pushing, noticing that she was eager to begin that day, not wanting to talk about their evening encounter. Perhaps he was wrong in offering to train her in the observation deck.

They began with simple manipulations of dark energies, and then Oraka had Jane focus her actions. She was expending much more power than from the previous week, and he wondered if it was from not exercising the night before. She was releasing her pent up energy that she normally used for her night-time adventures.

Lt. Oraka hadn't been taunting her with his quips that morning, like he normally would, but he was pushing her harder, having her try new things, just to see how ready she was for the normal daily biotics class. Jane was progressing incredibly quickly, but her focusing power really needed work. She could form biotic attacks, but her direction and guidance of her powers were lacking desperately.

Near the end of their training class, Oraka wanted to try one last maneuver that he'd seen Jane accomplish last night. It'd been the first time he'd ever seen Jane form her biotics to a body part. He was just going to push it a little farther.

"Last attempt for today, I want you to envelope yourself in dark energy," His words left Jane's mouth open. Tiberus demonstrated what he meant; letting the blue power he held wash over him, fitting to his form perfectly before it disappeared just as quickly. She went to retort, but simply went silent and nodded.

She took a deep breath, and struggled to wash herself in biotic power. The blue lightning danced up her arms, reaching her shoulders, but she couldn't push the power down, to cover her torso or legs. Jane held that position for nearly a minute, striving to move the power through her body, but sweat had beaded on her brow, and she was panting heavily. The blue flames dissipated moments after.

"I can't do it," Jane said.

"I don't believe that. You almost did it last night, you just have to focus," His words were calming, but Jane became annoyed at his pushing.

"I just tried. You saw, I  _can't_ do it. I'm not that advanced yet," Her voice held an edge to it; she was quickly become more irritable by the second. She was thinking about all of the times prior he had pushed and prodded and poked her into doing something, and how he was always there to make her attempt more. She had turned her back to him to keep her face from betraying her, making him unaware of her unbidden emotions.

"Try one more time. You're not going to let a simple biotic exercise best you, Shepard," Jane heard him take a step towards her as Tiberus spoke, heard the urging in his voice.

She wanted to be the one to poke and prod this time.

Powering up her biotics for the last time, she noted that Oraka had stopped moving, assuming that she was attempting to create a barrier around herself once more. He was mistaken.

Within moments, Shepard's small form had him pushed up against the nearest wall, his back flush to it, her arms covered in blue lightning. Her petite hands were pushing him against the wall by his shoulders, but she wasn't causing him any pain. He had been startled at first, but Tiberus knew that Jane wouldn't do anything to harm him. However, the Turian had no idea what he'd said to set her off.

"Why?" Her question was soft, barely leaving her lips as she stared at him. Her green eyes were alive, daring him to challenge her.

"Why, what?" Quick retort from him, and her eyes narrowed.

"Why do you push me? Why am I the only one you have morning trainings with? Why have you offered to help me train at night?" Jane pulled his face closer to hers as she hissed her questions.

"You don't act the same around me as you do other students. I've watched some of the daily biotics trainings. You let me talk to you and act differently around you than others," She had been raising her voice, her fingers digging into his plates. She didn't notice how Tiberus began to look at her with a heat in his eyes, matching hers.

"What makes you think that I deserve special treatment? Is something wrong with me! Do I need extra help to catch up? Why are you treating me this way!" Her voice had risen in volume, and though she wasn't screaming at him when she ended her inquisition, it certainly seemed that way to Jane. She was suddenly very tired, but held her biotics in check, keeping the much larger form pushed against the wall.

During her rant, Tiberus couldn't help but think how much she seemed like a female Turian in her ferocity, bright green eyes filled with passion and anger. He had initially been surprised by her attack, but understood where she was coming from. She deserved an explanation.

Oraka's blue irises kept her gaze as he spoke to her calmly, "Jane, you're right. You're not like any of the other students here,"

His soft words made her eyes widen, the biotic power seeping back into her hands and arms, and she took a step back. Jane stood there with her head bowed, silent and defeated. His admission to her needing extra help felt like a physical blow to Jane _. She had been trying so hard! She'd been pushing with everything she had! What more could she have done?_  In the middle of a deep thought, a gloved talon lifted her eyes to meet his sky-like gaze. The young Oraka could tell that his words had smothered her spirit, but he gave an uncharacteristic chuckle before speaking again.

"Jane, you are so much better than the rest of them. You have a fire in your soul, and you let it out in every action that you make. There isn't another human on this station that is more worthy of my time and energy than you," He noted how quickly Jane's fire had reignited at his speech.

Tiberus continued, "Shepard, you have nothing to lose. I read your file after speaking with you on your first day here, how you challenged me into letting you start in the normal class. I know that you lost everything, how it changed you," He grazed his thumb against her jaw as her eyes glistened, thinking back to Mindoir. A redness rose in her cheeks, her head leaning into his hand slightly.

"Instead of looking at this as defeat, instead of feeling hopeless, you rose to challenge, and you beat every challenge you give yourself. You realized that you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. You are impressive, being such a young Human," He pulled away from her and stepped back. Tiberus chastised himself for getting too close to her.

Jane could feel the heat in her face, and his movements along with his words had served to fluster her into silence. She began to head towards the door quickly, and just before she left the room, she whispered, "Thank you,"

Tiberus sighed after the door closed behind her. He had to remind himself that even though she was intriguing, she was still his subordinate, and he wouldn't risk the rapport that they'd created over the past few weeks.

* * *

Jane was particularly talkative at lunch, Amber had noticed. It was as if she was searching for a distraction from her thoughts. Between shoveling large amounts of food in her mouth, Jane would ask the Honey-Eyed female a question, or retort to something that Amber said.

"How has your day been, Amber?" Jane had started off the conversation when she'd first sat down in front of Amber, which was a change.

"I'm not suffering from a headache or nosebleed, so I can't complain," Jane knew that Amber rarely suffered from any side-effects of her L3 biotics implant, but she also knew that it severely limited Amber's powers and stamina.

"I can't say that I've ever come close to even feeling a headache, sore muscles, but I guess they really improved things with the L3-R implants. I count myself lucky that my powers manifested so much later than a normal biotic," Jane spoke casually.

"How exactly did your powers manifest?" Amber had wanted to ask her this question ever since they had cemented their friendship in the Med-Bay, but she'd never been brave enough.

"Amber, we're eating right now and I'd really rather keep my lunch down. I'll tell you later, okay?" Jane was simply given a short nod, catching Amber in the middle of chewing some of her food.

"Do you like your biotics training?" Another question? Jane must've had a good morning.

"Well, Commander Vyrnnus isn't exactly the 'understanding teacher' sort. He pretty much barks out orders to us like a drill sergeant, and we're expected to comply or… well, we just do what he says or we end up in the med-bay," Her voice was level while speaking, but she didn't want to think about the Commander any more than she wanted to. "Have your trainings with Lieutenant Oraka been good?"

Jane tried with the force of a hundred wild varren to keep the heat from rising into her freckled cheeks and spreading into her face. She tried to act naturally with a simple phrase, "They've been fine,"

Amber tilted her head, a smile creeping onto her face, "Oh really? Care to share what he's been educating you on?"

A pair of bright blue eyes, staring her down, flashed into Jane's mind. Her cheeks had turned a darker shade of red, nearly matching her hair, if that was possible. "He's been pushing me to learn how to create a barrier, how to cover myself in dark energies,"

Amber was clearly enjoying the effect that talking about Lt. Oraka was having on Jane, so she continued asking questions. "What's your favorite part of your trainings?"

It seemed that Shepard's face could indeed match her hair after Amber's last remark.

"He's just a really great teacher," Jane murmured, her hands covering her face, attempting to calm herself, pushing thoughts of that morning out of her head.

"You're hot for teacher," Amber quipped.

"I am not!" Jane had nearly stopped blushing, but the embarrassment came rushing back in full-force at the younger girl's comment.

"Oh really? Let's test that theory," Amber had finished eating, and stood up, putting her tray away.

"Wait! What do you mean?" Jane widened her eyes, finishing off the last few bites of food on her plate, before realizing that Amber was heading back towards the training rooms, where Lt. Oraka was preparing for his afternoon class. Jane was up and out of her seat faster than Amber thought possible, many students noticing her panic.

Amber had made it halfway down the hall leading to the training rooms before Jane grabbed her wrist, "Amber! Okay, okay…" Jane pleaded with her.

"Okay… what?" The girl took her wrist from Jane, crossing her arms and jutting one hip out to the side, waiting expectantly.

"I like him," Jane muttered.

"You like him? Just like? Nothing else?" Amber was pushing it, and Jane was a good-natured person, but they were too close for comfort to the room where Oraka was probably standing. She didn't want to risk him coming into the hall and overhearing their conversation.

"That's all you're getting out of me! I'm going to my room. You're lucky I like you," Jane ended the conversation, turning around and heading towards the dorms.

"Have a good day, Shepard!" Amber added jovially, only getting a single wave from the back of Jane as she disappeared down an adjacent hall.

* * *

Not being able to keep Lt. Oraka off her mind, Jane had sought Amber out once she was done with her Afternoon training, and they talked until curfew. Shepard had found a quiet room in the recreational quarters and they'd simply sat and talked.

Jane had finally volunteered the information on her past, telling Amber about her parents and little brother, the attack on Mindoir, and the rescue by the alliance. Jane had even told her about the biotic awakening she'd had, even though it was still gruesome and fresh in her mind. Amber had just sat and listened.

When Jane had finished, a pair of honey-hued irises had stared at her, but not with pity, and the young woman was surprised. Amber understood where Jane came from, and shared her own story with Shepard.

_The younger girl had lived with her parents on a colony near the traverse, until a raid from mercenaries had struck. She was only ten when it happened. Amber had watched her mother die as her father forced her into an escape pod with a few other kids. She didn't see him until they were reunited a week later by an Alliance rescue squad._

_Thankfully, she hadn't seen many other dead bodies, barring her mother's, and she still had her father. However, her biotics had manifested themselves during the attack; much like Shepard's had with the Batarians._

_Yet, Amber's father wasn't really ready to accept the fact that his only child, the only family he had left, would be taken from him. Amber explained that her father had kept her biotics a secret for as long as he could, until Amber nearly killed one of her friends while playing one day after school. Then, her father was forced to give her to the alliance, to be given an implant, and was transferred to the BAaT program as soon as she was old enough to participate._

Jane was surprised at Amber's story, but she didn't pity the girl either, she realized that she was just as strong as Jane, and the two girls created a bond in each other, knowing that they understood loss. At curfew, Jane had given Amber a consoling hug, glad to have found a persistent friend by chance.

Now, it was time to leave for her evening encounter with Oraka, and Jane was suddenly feeling nervous. Why? It had everything to do with their morning argument, and how Tiberus had looked at her while she had him pinning against the wall. She shivered in the dark at the thought of his eyes.

Sighing, she over-rode the encryption on her door, her body lithely and soundlessly made its way down the dimly-lit hallways. Her heart was pounding with each step closer to the observation deck. Her body stood before the steel door, Jane knew he stood in the room that lay before it, and she willed her heart to calm.

The door opened with a swish as she finally made those last few steps, and her eyes fell on the form of her instructor. He was looking out the large glass window of the station, watching the stars slowly move out of view. Jane walked to stand beside him, and he glanced over to her, their eyes meeting.

"Hey," Her voice was soft, but full of energy. She was no longer nervous in his presence.

"Good Evening," His flanging voice was rougher than usual, probably from it being so late.

"So, are we going to start with sparring, Lieutenant Oraka?" Jane's eyes lit up as she spoke.

Oraka's dark mandibles flared slightly as he laughed, "Shepard, we won't be sparring until you're able to slightly match me in strength or speed  _without biotics_ ," He continued speaking, "And, when we're here, at night, just call me Tiberus. Within these walls, we're equals,"

"Okay… Tiberus," She tested his name out, liking how it sounded. "Then just call me Jane," Her words were serious as she spoke.

"Fine, Jane," His had a slight laugh in his voice as he walked to the center of the large room. Jane tried to not notice how the smooth lines of his muscles under his exo-suit moved quickly and easily, or how his eyes glanced over to her form every few seconds, even when he was observing something outside the window.

"Let's begin,"


	8. You Light Me Up

Shepard punched her hand into the air, reveling in how fast she moved. Jane then flexed her arm, noting the definition she had in her forearm and bicep, her fingers tracing over the corded muscle she now possessed. Jane felt  _stronger, stronger than ever,_ and it was _exhilarating._ Shepard was lying back on her bed, taking stock of everything that had happened since training with Tiberus.

Amber and she had become best friends, much closer than any of the girls she'd considered 'friends' back on Mindoir. She'd also turned seventeen. On Mindoir, that would have meant a giant party with tons of friends and food and laughter. Instead, she spent it with a dark Turian that had white flames that licked over his face. He had taught her a few Turian combat-moves that night.

It had been three months of strenuous early-morning and late-night workouts and biotics. Thankfully, the fourth month, Tiberus had decided she was caught up enough to go from being personally trained to working in class with the other students. Tiberus had taught her more than enough, and she was nearly at the top of her class, though that was likely his intention. She had scoffed after the first normal day of training and how mind-numbingly effortless it was, sending Tiberus glares as she left the room. Her eyes had seen the small turian smile that graced his face, mandibles relaxed and open, and Jane swore she could hear small laughs coming from him as the door closed.

The other students, mostly the males, took a liking to her rather quickly, but they also noticed that she always stood in the front of the class and followed Lt. Oraka's instructions to a tee. She didn't bother becoming friends with anyone in her class; most of the students were much younger than her, only a few of the boys being a year older.

After three weeks of being in the normal class, one of the boys had taunted Jane, saying that she was the teacher's pet. She had been ignoring a lot of those hecklings the past few days, from males and females in her class. Apparently, it wasn't only her that noticed the burning stares that Tiberus would give her when she executed a move particularly well.

She had also learned that each training group was designated certain colors, her group being black and white. She was given new clothes and a few new exo-suits, having outgrown her old clothes. Jane had grown a bit taller, and gained muscle. She had been stunned how quickly and easily her body adapted, but when you're focused on nothing but achieving a goal, twenty-four hours a day, there's no telling what the human body could accomplish.

She was excited for her and Tiberus' nightly training; he had told her before leaving class that afternoon that they would be doing something new. Shepard was glad for that, because lately she'd been feeling bored.

The first night that she and Tiberus had begun training, he didn't even do anything. In fact, for the first month, he had simply helped her improve her form on the workout that she'd already created for herself. The month after, he added a few moves into it, all the while, he just watched while she practiced the moves. Last month, he'd begun to do resistance training with her, and that had gotten her blood pumping.

Instead of normal resistance training, like bringing weights with him, Tiberus decided that  _he_ would be the resistance. When Jane would do a push-up, Tiberus would be right there, lightly adding pressure to her shoulders. Or when Jane would do a sit-up, the dark Turian would pull on her sides, back towards the ground, making her core work harder to force herself up. However, the first few days of that had been hell for Jane. She had blushed whenever his hand would graze her shoulder, or grab her arm, or touch her hip.

She'd slowly gotten used to it, but it had become redundant the past few weeks, having done resistance training for nearly over two months. Granted, it was nice having him touch her, even if it was strictly on a friendly level. She had never noticed how his eyes lit up when she would complete a command very successfully, or how his hands had seemed to linger on her longer than before. Perhaps she was keeping herself from getting her hopes up.

Her omni-tool pinged, letting her know that it was time for their nightly training.

* * *

The doors opened before her, and Jane walked up to Tiberus, where he stood at his normal spot, looking over the stars. It was almost as if he was surveying the view, inspecting it and making sure it was acceptable to his liking.

"Jane," Just saying her name, Tiberus sent shivers down her spine.

"Tiberus," She said back, lightness in her voice. She brushed her shoulder against his. "So, what's this new thing we're doing today?"

"Each night... you are always too eager to begin wearing yourself out, Jane. You'll have to learn patience sometime," His low voice was quiet, and he turned towards her. Jane couldn't help but think that the flames over his face seemed more alive than usual.

A smirk crept onto her lips, "You know me, Tiberus. Always ready to exhaust myself," Her mind inwardly groaned at how flirtatious that sounded, but her outward appearance didn't change.

"I heard there was an altercation in the student's mess hall during your allotted recreational time," He was stern now, but Jane stared him down. Shepard knew what he was referring to and she didn't want to talk about it.

"What about?" She decided feigning ignorance, seeing how much knowledge Tiberus had.

"I know that a short fight broke out between you and another student in my class. That's all the information I needed," He stepped towards her, and their chests were nearly touching. Tiberus was peering into her soul with icy blue irises that froze her to the spot. "I didn't need to inquire further, because I knew you would explain yourself,"

Jane sighed, and tried to look away, but a midnight-plated hand came up to keep her face focused on his. She really didn't want to bring up the fight; in fact, she had been looking forward to releasing all her pent up energy she had been left with after knocking the boy out within the first minute of his talk.

"The other student, Harakas? Isn't that his name? He started taunting me… Calling me names, pretty much yelling insults over dinner, but I ignored them," She remembered how he had sneered at her, calling her 'teacher's pet' and 'Oraka's personal project', the other boys he sat with snickering while she and Amber had sat quietly, eating dinner.

"What was he provoking you over?" Tiberus' voice held a small amount of concern, and a smoldering of something else. Was he angry at Harakas for making fun of her?

"That I'm too awesome. He's just jealous of how much stronger I am," Shepard tried to keep the humor in her voice, hiding the real reason behind their quarrel. She wasn't about to divulge the truth behind the fight, that would end in embarrassment that Shepard was sure she'd die from. "Regardless, it wasn't the mocking that made me knock him out. I was leaving the mess hall when he stood up, and walked right into me, and everything fell out of my hands,"

Her hands balled into fists, and Tiberus' hand fell to her arm, giving her incentive to continue talking, "Then, Harakas, he pushed me down. I guess since I hadn't risen to the bait, he really wanted to get a rise out of me. As soon as I fell, I just reacted out of instinct. I swept his feet out from underneath him, and then he hit his head against the floor and passed out,"

She ran a hand through her hair, in the past few months, the auburn locks had grown to nearly touch her shoulders. "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did, but I stayed there to make sure he was okay after I told someone to get a nurse from the Med-Bay to come get him. I would have taken him there myself, but I was afraid to move him and harm him further,"

Tiberus simply nodded after she finished, as if he accepted the explanation without need any further proof. He did accept it, without any more questions.

"Next time, if someone physically confronts you about anything, get away from the situation. You come get me, or another faculty member," His voice was stern, but soft. He understood why she acted the way she did, and he forgave her for giving into her instincts.

She nodded, a smile crept onto her face, and she pushed him forcefully. The action made him take a step back, and he flared his mandibles at her, returning her human smile with a Turian one. "Can we stop talking about serious things now? When do we get to the fun stuff?" She voiced, turning away from him, walking over to the center of the deck.

"Why Jane, I've never known you to be anything but serious," Tiberus teased.

"Then you certainly don't know humans as well as you thought, Tiberus," She retorted. As she walked, a pair of blue eyes roved over her curves.

"I highly doubt that. I have to look at dozens of them every day. I think I know them better than I care to," Jane could have sworn his last few words were laced with disgust, as having to be near certain people made his plates itched uncomfortably.

"Oh they can't all be bad," Jane's eyes glanced at him. The teasing that they did at night was completely absent during the day, almost as if they transformed into different entities altogether when the station's lights dimmed. The joking and teasing had only started after the second month of their nightly encounters, and had gradually made its way into flirtatious territory.

"There's only been a few that have stood out since I've been here," Tiberus growled, and his eyes met her's for a moment before studying something on the far wall.

Jane laughed, "I bet you say that to all the pretty trainees that come through your class," However calm her exterior, Jane's heart pounded and her head felt light whenever Tiberus would make suggestive comments at her.

"I would have to say there's only been one that's kept my attention," Tiberus had stepped over to face her, and his gaze had settled comfortably on her's. Tiberus moved into a fighting stance, "Let's begin,"

Jane's mouth suddenly dried.

She realized that this was the new thing they would start tonight.

Sparring.

_Gods, Help Her…_

Ever since they'd began resistance training, it was becoming harder and harder for Jane to be neutral towards Tiberus touching her, or really any physical contact from the Turian. He was so much warmer than her, and the heat that he gave off in brief touches did more than scorch her skin, it licked fire into her stomach and lower depths.

Tiberus cut off her thoughts as he took the initiative first, stepping towards her and testing the air with a few quick jabs. She easily blocked the first two and dodged the second two, and returned his jabs with a kick to the Turian's side. She cursed as her foot hit well-plated ribs and she pulled back into a defensive stance.

"Is that all you got, Shepard? You're definitely going to have to do better than that," His words were teasing with fire.

Tiberus advanced on her like a large, exotic cat, his moves languorous and sinewy, checking her defenses with an occasional swing. They danced in a circle; one would test the waters, and then the other. Sometimes the dark Turian figure would land a punch, other times the green-eyed fireball would duck in and land a good hit. They were sweating within the hour, and energy was wearing thing.

"Getting tired, Tiberus? We can stop anytime if you need a break," Jane said coyly. Drops of sweat framed her face, but she was enjoying this, much better than doing repetitions of the same thing over and over.

Jane decided to go for it, and she managed to deflect a hit off her shoulder and move in to grapple Tiberus to the ground. Her new strength allowed her the luxury of no longer needing biotics to bring the much larger form to the floor.

However, once on the ground, Tiberus became incensed and worried that Jane would best him, and he didn't hold back. They wrestled on the floor a few minutes, heavy breaths littering the sounds of them moving along the floor as one fought the other for control.

Shepard saw an opening when the young Oraka went to grab her hip and force her underneath his form. He still underestimated humans' flexibility, and she easily twisted out of his grip and used her elbow against his shoulder to free her from his grasp fully. Her body was now free from danger, Jane used the last reserve of her strength to roll on top of Tiberus, and her legs straddled his waist, her arms suddenly were enveloped in blue and she set them against the joints in his arms.

Her eyes were shining with pleasure as she sat on top of him in victory. "Do you yield?" Her face dipped low to level her eyes with his.

"You're using biotics…" The Turian's voice was suddenly laced with an emotion that Jane couldn't place, but she could also tell he was unpleasantly surprised at the outcome of their match.

"Is that in the rules? Someone failed to inform me," Her voice had lowered, "Besides, I pinned you by myself, the biotics are simply there to keep you…  _restrained_ ," Her mind flew at that idea. Tiberus was  _right there_ , helpless under her power _._  That simple sentence made her heady with desire. The burning stare that he was giving her wasn't really helping either.

Jane let the biotics dissipate from her arms, but she stayed still, looking over the stark white markings on his face. Perhaps they were as hot as they looked.

Before she realized what she was doing, Jane had moved her hands to run her fingers to trace the flames that went along Tiberus' plates. He was warm, much warmer than her, but her body responded with heat of its own as she noticed the look he was giving her.

She realized what the emotion she couldn't pick up before was, and her breath hitched in her throat as she felt a pair of talons slide up her legs. His fingers moving up her hips and sides were sending tendrils of lightning straight up her spine and she slid slightly closer.

Her hands stopped tracing his cheek-plates, and she moved them to the back of his head, finding soft skin underneath his crown of dark horns. As the pads of her fingers stroked the soft skin there, Tiberus instinctively flexed his talons on her waist, growling.

She felt emboldened, all of a sudden, and she pressed her soft mouth against Tiberus' harder one. The Turian's hands suddenly moved pulled her closer to him as she kissed him, and she was now straddling his chest as she leaned over him.

Her mouth parted slightly, and she felt a warm tongue dart in to rub against her own tongue, and she moaned against his mouth. She vaguely noticed a fluttering of mandibles across her cheeks.

_She was in heaven with Tiberus Oraka._


	9. We Can Lay this Armor Down

_She was in heaven with Tiberus Oraka._

Jane soon found out that Turians were actually much warmer than Humans, Tiberus running his tongue against her's as he deepened the kiss. His hands were lightly moving up and down her sides.

… _Wait…_ Jane's eyes shot open, realizing that she was straddling the man who taught her more in the past few months than she'd ever dreamed of knowing, the man who had already risked so much to help her learn quicker, the man who instilled trust in her from day one. Suddenly, Jane Shepard wasn't sure this was such a good idea.  _What if someone finds out? It would be one thing for someone to find us training, but it would be a whole other problem for someone to find us…_

Shepard had stopped her ministrations under the dark Turian's fringe, and he took notice that she had gone very still, blue eyes watching her carefully. Tiberus began to sit up with Jane still on him, but she reacted out of reflex, pushing him back down to the ground as she began to stand. She had actually managed to surprise him with that move, even knocking the breath from his body for a moment, stunning him.

"..um… I-I have… to go…" Jane didn't know what else to say. She shot him an apologetic look, escaping the room and returning to her room much quicker than she normally would have. She had left Tiberus, still sitting on the floor of the observation deck, with the most bewildered look she had ever seen on the Turian's face. Jane swore that she saw his mouth begin to say something before the door closed.

Returning to her room, Shepard most certainly didn't sleep. She could still smell him on her, smoke and musk having seeped into her suit. She could still feel him on her, the places where he touched her singed with heat, remembering how his hands had traveled from her legs… around her hips… up her sides…

Jane released a frustrated sigh into the air before falling onto her bed. She had been tired after the sparring session had nearly finished, but Tiberus was able to stoke even the smallest cinders into a roaring fire with his touch. Shepard pulled her exo-suit off, putting on some shorts and a tank-top, settling into her cold bed.

Attempting to sleep, Jane willed herself to stop thinking about bright green eyes and flames of white.

* * *

Jane Shepard hadn't thought this entire awkward situation through. She arrived at morning training along with a few other students, thinking that not being alone with Tiberus in the same room was a good idea. Shepard took her normal spot at the front of the class before everyone else arrived, but Tiberus acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened the night before. Training was even normal; he was simply Lt. Oraka in this setting.

Once class had let out for lunch, however, Jane had noticed the Turian flash a look at her. Jane had intended to leave the classroom as quickly as possible, avoiding any awkward conversation, but those thoughts were silenced by his eyes pinning her to the spot. Most of the students had rushed out the door to get lunch, being famished by the training. The stragglers didn't notice (or didn't care) that Jane was waiting to speak with Lt. Oraka, and they were gone quickly.

"Shepard," Tiberus spoke as he walked over to her. Her heart fluttered a bit when he said her name like that, but she quelled it in order to think clearly.

"I'm sorry for leaving last night," Jane said quickly, crossing her arms in front of her, more to keep her from touching him involuntarily than to seem stand-offish.

"It was sudden," He concurred, "Would you care to explain yourself?"

She took a moment to collect her thoughts, "Tiberus… I just don't think it's a good idea. What if we get caught?"

"No one's caught us yet," Tiberus said, his low voice making Jane turn a nice shade of red.

"You know what I mean… There's a lot more risk involved, for you more so than me," She had uncrossed her arms, stepping closer to him as she examined his face. Most of the time it seemed to be chiseled out of marble, all the sharp angles of his plates, devoid of emotion most of the time. At the moment, his face seemed softer while he watched Jane think, if soft emotions were possible for Turians.

She was worried what would happen to him if they were caught, she really could care less about herself, they couldn't really discipline her, it wasn't really illegal, but they could kick her out of BAaT. Then she wouldn't see Amber or Tiberus anymore, and they were the reason she wasn't tempted to finish what they started last night.

She continued speaking, "I don't want to talk about this here," Her eyes gazed around the room, searching for any possible cameras on them. "We can discuss this  _later_ ," The emphasis meaning much later that night.

"That's fine with me," Tiberus responded, grabbing her hand before she could leave, he peered down at her, "Is risk the only reason?"

Shepard stood and considered a few things in her mind before nodding, and gave his larger hand a soft squeeze before leaving the training room. She had to find Amber.

* * *

Jane had found the blond-haired girl sitting at a table by herself, scarfing down a large amount of what looked like mash potatoes and gravy. After grabbing some food for herself, Jane calmly sat beside Amber, and began to tell her what had conspired that morning, and the night before.

"You did what!" Honey-colored eyes were blinking at her slowly; the harsh exclamation merely a whisper at their table, but Amber was stunned. "You kissed him?"

Jane put her hands over her face, "Could you say it a little louder, please? I want everyone to know about it," Embarrassment flooded her voice. "And we're going to have a talk… later,"

Shepard had informed Amber of the nightly trainings after she had felt that they would be a common occurrence. Ever since then, Amber had been nice enough to only threaten blackmailing Jane a number of twenty-three times. Jane just loved giving the blond ammo for later.

"I don't know if I should even go see him tonight," Jane whispered to the younger girl through her fingers.

"Shepard, you aren't a coward. Plus, I'm sure that Lt. Oraka will make sure that the ends justify the means, if you get my drift," Amber spoke quietly, and finished her sentence as Jane had been in the middle of drinking water. A sudden choking noise following by coughing from Jane meant that Amber had accomplished her goal of flustering Shepard.

"You don't think that I should start something, are you?" Jane asked as she nervously moved a hand through her hair.

"Jane, why not? You like him, he obviously likes you, and it's not like Lt. Oraka is that much older than you. I honestly don't think you need to worry about someone catching you if Oraka isn't concerned," Amber continued, "Besides, it's not like it will become something serious, he knows that you're going to be leaving once you turn eighteen anyway. What do you have to lose?"

Jane sighed, "I just worry that if we are found out, something horrible will happen to him, and I will definitely feel like that's my fault. I can't jeopardize someone's future because of my own selfish desires, that's not who I am,"

"Shepard, there are some things that aren't up to you," Amber quipped, "Like deciding whether or not an extremely nice looking Lieutenant wants to put you-"

"Okay! Well nice talking to you, Amber, I have to go," Jane cut her off quickly, standing up and taking her dishes over to the designated station before heading back to class. She didn't need Amber to tell her how nice Tiberus looked; she had a front row seat to it every day.

* * *

Afternoon training went off without a hitch, and as the time to get to the observation deck drew near, Jane became more nervous by the minute. Shepard had decided to not wear her exo-suit that night, opting instead for shorts and a tank top. This change of clothes was due to the fact that Jane was also thinking about what could possibly happen after the meeting between her and Tiberus. That wasn't helping pass the time,  _at all_ , just making her more anxious to leave the small confines of her room. Jane's Omni-tool pinged, and she nearly ran to the observation deck.

Shepard composed herself before stepping into the room, and noticed that Tiberus had the same idea about different clothes. He wasn't in his sleek exo-suit, but Turian civilian clothes, or rather 'off-duty' clothes, because there weren't any civilian turians. It consisted of a light gray shirt that was fitted against his well-defined muscles, black pants and a matching black hoodie-like jacket that covered his cowl.

"Tiberus…" Jane started, but trailed off, her heart beating frantically within her ribcage.

Tiberus hadn't been at his normal spot, staring out at the stars, he was standing where they had begun sparring the night before. "Jane," was all the Turian said.

She walked up to him warily, watching his eyes as she stepped closer and closer. He smelled different as well, and she realized that he must have taken a shower before their training session, rather than waiting until after. He still had a sweet musk about him, but now it seemed fresh, crisp.

"Sorry… about last night," Jane stumbled over her words, "I was surprised, at myself and at you,"

"Why were you surprised?" Tiberus had tilted his head slightly to the side, mandibles flaring out slightly in a quizzical manner.

"Well… because I didn't expect you to be so  _receptive_  towards my advances," Jane's cheeks flushed as she remembered their kiss.

Tiberus slowly took her hand in his, "Jane, you are strong, driven, honest, brave and _infuriating_ , all of those traits I admire in a woman," He pulled her towards him and she willingly complied.

"Tiberus, I don't want to put your career in jeopardy. I don't want to be selfish and ruin anything," Jane admitted, wanting to say that before her eyes were completely enthralled by a similar pair of blue eyes close to her own.

The larger being chuckled, "I would hardly call this a 'career'. I am free to leave anytime I wish, but that is admirable of you. However, I highly doubt that anyone will catch us," He leaned down further, nipping her shoulder and illiciting a gasp from Jane, "Unless we're too loud,"

Jane suddenly pushed him away from her, smirking. "We still have some nightly sparring to get in, I believe. Unless you were planning on slacking off, Tiberus?"

Tiberus growled, and they began circling each other, mirroring the night before.

Yet, Jane was distracted by the heat that had begun pooling between her legs. With each brush against Tiberus, each block, each grab, Jane became more excited. It was as if the fighting itself were foreplay for the both of them.

She left herself open and within moments, Tiberus had her on the floor, pinned beneath him. Her wrists were above her, being held by just one of his hands, and he was kneeling over her stomach, blue eyes piercing her soul.

"You didn't put up much of a fight," Tiberus purred into her ear.

"I must still be tired from kicking your ass last night," Jane remarked, and she arched her back against him, stretching out on the metal floor.

A heat had begun to simmer in Tiberus' eyes, and he spoke, "Do that again," His command made her shiver.

Jane was silent as she complied, stretching slowly, and this time, she rolled her hips against where he was kneeling, her body grazing his lightly.

He leaned over her, and replicated the kiss that had taken place the night before. His hand had let go of her wrists, and Jane immediately found the skin beneath his fringe. He growled against her lips as she massaged the tender spot there, and his hands gripped her hips, pulling her to him roughly.

He slowly pulled away from her mouth, putting his hands on her stomach, under her shirt. Her breath hitched as the palms of his hands ghosted over her ribcage, and she quickly pulled her shirt off, along with her sports bra. Tiberus had pulled off his hoodie in that time, revealing muscled arms and plated shoulders. His plates glinted like gunmetal in the starlight, as she traced his plates along one shoulder, following the corded muscles down his arm and ending at his talon.

She had sat up to take her clothes off, so she grabbed his hand and pulled him back on top of her, arching her back again. This time, her chest grazed his, and she could feel the heat through the thin material of his shirt. It was amazing how hot he was in comparison to her, and she feel her body tighten in response.

His hands were back on her ribcage, until he moved them to lightly fondle her breasts, a small moan fall from her lips. Suddenly she felt something hot and wet slide up between her breasts, and she realized it was his tongue. Within moments, Jane was thanking the Gods for prehensile tongues as Tiberus found the peak of her breast, and was adeptly licking it. She was grasping at his shirt while she moaned, trying to rid him of it.

The Turian lifted his head from his ministrations to growl at her, and while Jane had his attention, she decided to turn the tables in her favor. Trying something that she'd read about on the extranet, she moved her face near his and tentatively slid her tongue across the bottom of one of Tiberus' mandibles.

Not only did his growl deepen immediately, but Jane could feel his body shift without him actually moving. It was as if the plates on his body had all moved slightly away from…

That's when she felt him. As Jane had felt the plates shifts, seconds later she felt Tiberus' manhood suddenly against her thigh. She tugged teasingly on his shirt once more, which resulted in a kiss from Tiberus that was long and deep. As he pulled away from her, she moaned in protest, but fell silent as she watched him undress.

His shirt fell by her's, revealing a fully plated chest of midnight, with a few white markings of flames that licked down the right side of his chest. She thought he looked absolutely magnificent. Then the pants came off.

She didn't have much time to look at what lay before her, due to the dim light, but what she did see, Jane wasn't sure if it would fit, and she had also noticed  _ridges_. Heat sank deeper into her loins, and she bit her lip. Jane had taken her shorts off while watching him undress and he had picked her up smoothly into his arms.

Tiberus walked over to the wall of glass, cupping her bottom, he pressed her back against the cold window. She gasped, and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer to steal some of his heat. Her fingers roved over the impressive cowl ridge that Tiberus had, and he gave a low growl, and she leaned in to run her tongue down his neck, nipping at his skin as he had done earlier.

"Jane…" His voice was much lower than normal, and the growling had never really stopped as he spoke. Saying his name had her focus on his gaze, and she became breathless.

The stars were perfectly reflected in his blue irises, and Jane felt as if she was falling into another galaxy, staring at him. She shifted her hips against his, and kissed him lightly.

"I will be gentle," He whispered.

She smirked, "Not too gentle," she corrected.

Tiberus entered Jane in a quick thrust, and her spine bowed from the mixture of pleasure and the initial pain of this new sensation. Jane felt a delicious building sensation as Tiberus began pumping into her. Their gaze was locked as Jane moaned, feeling the sensation begin to crest, and Tiberus covered his mouth with hers as she climaxed, swallowing her moans.

Tiberus couldn't believe how tight and wet Jane was when he entered her. He had entertained the idea of taking a human to bed before, but never this seriously, and it was as new to him as it was to her. He felt himself beginning to become overwhelmed with emotions, and his thrusts deepened. He heard Jane sigh into his mouth once more as he released his seed within her, slowing his pace; his low groan eaten by her lips, swallowed by her throat.

Jane was leaning some of her weight against the window to take the stress off of Tiberus, but he didn't seem inconvenienced by her at all. She felt him begin to recede out of her, without him moving. Watching his plates begin to move after he was fully receded within himself, Jane had herself an answer.

Tiberus had focused his gaze on her once more, not moving to set her down. She smiled at him as she kissed him lightly, moving her arms to wrap around his neck.

"We're definitely going to have to do this again," She whispered to him.


	10. Twist of Fate

_It's true what they say, time does fly when you're having fun… whoever 'they' are…_  Jane thought to herself as she lay on her side against the cold floor of the observation deck. Red locks cascaded down her cheek, brushing against her freckled shoulder. Tiberus laid beside her, facing her, his hand running up and down her side as they spoke in hushed tones.

It had been nearly six months of biotics trainings and intense sparrings at nights. Jane smirked as she glanced over the room; they had  _sparred_  against the  _window_ , on the  _benches_ , on the _floor_ , against the cool  _wall_ … She shivered slightly in memory. Shepard had definitely enjoyed their nights together, and found that she would miss him when she left to join the Alliance Navy. They never delved into serious topics when they decided to talk after sparring, never mentioning Mindoir, just keeping to light subjects.

Jane and Tiberus had made sure to keep a semblance of distance between each other, to lessen the pain for when the inevitable happened. The handsome Turian knew that he would never be able to keep Jane from the large life that she aspired to have, and he didn't want to keep her from happiness either. Plus, it didn't seem that BAaT would continue for much longer, from the murmurs that he had been hearing.

She was intent on enjoying the time they had together, for now, not wanting to dwell on the future departure from one another. Lifting her hand, she rested her palm against his cheek, running her thumb along the edge of a white flame.

Tiberus looked amused at her relaxed emotions, "Jane… are you listening to me?"

Jane made a non-committal noise as she continued massaging his face plate, her fingers making their way to his jaw before pulling him into a kiss. He was getting much better at human displays of affection.

The Turian gave a chuckle as he moved away from Jane's incredibly tempting mouth, pressing his forehead lightly to hers, "I said, I think you're ready to complete your Mission Simulation. You've been completing every biotic task in class, and you've been the winner of our spars more often than not in the evenings,"

Jane smirked, "Here I thought that you were letting me win so we could complete more _interesting_  exercises,"

Tiberus growled playfully, "Okay, so perhaps that does happen on occasion…" He nipped at her shoulder lightly as she gave a quiet laugh.

"Are you just saving face now, Tiberus? Too proud to admit that you've been bested by a fragile human female?" She teased as her hand found its way to the soft skin underneath his dark fringe, fingertips applying light pressure.

Giving an appreciative rumble, Tiberus moved suddenly, ending up on top of her. "Oh Jane… If we had ever done full contact sparring, I would have sent you to the Med-Bay every night. Instead, I get to enjoy this-" He ran his talons down her sides, slowly sliding them back up, illiciting small moans from her throat. "And this is so much more enjoyable than winning a simple sparring match,"

He breathed into her hair deeply, smelling the delicious scent of fresh earth that was simply Jane. Her bright green eyes gazed at his face as she smiled softly. She was always surprised at how such a fierce and capable predator could be so gentle and altruistic at the same time. Turians were certainly a conundrum to Shepard's mind.

"So, you really think I'm ready to leave?" Her voice held a hint of reluctance in it. She had come to care for Tiberus, and there were a few heartstrings attached to him that would hurt when she left.

"You are more than ready. You're going to kick ass when you get to the Alliance," He spoke with a hint of pride. "Those navy officers will probably promote you as soon as you're out of basic. Spirits know that they need capable people like you leading a good team against the Batarians,"

Jane was taken aback, "Me? Lead a team? Are you crazy?" Her eyes had widened, and she shook her head. "I don't think I could lead a team, I'm much better at taking orders and executing them,"

Tiberus nuzzled her cheek as he rolled onto his side again, pulling her with him. "Jane, you have a fire inside you. It's this passion that I've never seen in another person, and it attracts people to you. Now, sometimes those people are fearful of that heat and determination you have, but most times you draw people in and they want to be like you,"

He continued, "Trust me, Jane; I know from experience that you make the people around you want to be a better version of themselves. Your classmates suddenly pushed themselves after you started joining our morning and afternoon classes. You may not realize the effect you have on people, but it's there, and you're going to make a great leader. Perhaps it won't be right after you get out of basic, but it will come naturally to you,"

Tiberus began to get off the floor, and pulled her up with him. Jane had gone quiet, thinking about everything he said. It was a little overwhelming.  _Okay, it's very overwhelming,_  Jane conceded, but she tried to act as natural as possible while gathering her clothes.

"I only hope that I can live up to these expectations you have of me," Jane whispered.

Tiberus walked over to her smoothly, putting his hands on her arms in reassurance. "Jane, you were born to do this. Know this, you could never disappoint me, no matter how infuriating you can be at times," Tiberus had started off his words with a tone of seriousness, but he ended it with humor, attempting to quell her nervousness.

"So, you'll explain the BAaT completion process tomorrow?" Jane asked him, his touch calming her.

"Yes, after class finishes tomorrow, there will be two more students that will going through the process as well, but they'll be completing the program before you. You'll be the last to complete the program this time around," Tiberus said.

He leaned down, pressing his mouth against hers lightly. "Goodnight, Jane,"

"Goodnight, Tiberus," She pulled away from him reluctantly. Shepard still had to sneak into the communal bathroom and take a shower, her nightly routine after  _sparring_  with Tiberus. It was to ensure that evidence of their night together would be washed away.

Watching the silhouette of Tiberus against the wall of endless stars as she left, Jane felt a nervousness overtake her as she realized it was the beginning of the end for her life in this place. It was exciting and melancholy at the same time.

* * *

"So what did Lt. Oraka say to you this morning?" Amber's voice was curious as she sat beside Jane in the mess hall. The honey-eyed young woman had cut her hair short, it was now in a pixie cut, and Jane thought it made her much older than her age of fifteen years. Jane hadn't realized how fast the past year and a half had flown by.

"He said that I was ready for my completion in the BAaT program. It consists of a mission simulation on the deck below this one. Apparently deck three is nothing but a big maze with cover and some Loki Mech to get past," Jane responded.

"That sounds dangerous," Amber lamented, her tone changing slightly.

"Oh, the Loki Mechs will only be using concussive rounds. We are to get through the rooms and grab an OSD that we are to then bring back to our original location. We go in one at a time, and as long as we make it out without being knocked unconscious, our training is considered complete. I think it's going to be quite fun, actually,"

Despite Jane's optimism, Amber's mood had begun to darken. After a few minutes of silence, Jane couldn't stand wondering what was going through the other girl's head.

"Are you afraid that I'm going to fail or get hurt? I know I'm a little stubborn, but I'm pretty good at this biotics stuff," Jane tried to amuse Amber, but she didn't get any reaction.

"Amber, what's wrong?" Jane nudged the girl with her shoulder, suddenly worried about the unresponsiveness of the normally cheerful girl.

Amber shook her head, "I know you're going to do great. I'm sure that you'll pass with flying colors, and then you'll go off and join the Alliance Navy and do great things…"

Honey-colored eyes lifted to meet a pair of bright green eyes, "I'm just worried that Jane Shepard is going to forget about Amber Damara in the midst of making the galaxy better. You'll have so many things going on, and I know there are important things you'll be doing where you can't afford distractions,"

Jane's face softened immediately, "Of course not, Amber. I could never forget you,"

A serious look overcame Jane, and she turned to face Amber fully, leaving the attention of her food. The auburn-haired girl took Amber's hands into her own as she began to speak. "Amber Damara, you are the most genuine and trustworthy friend that I have ever known. There are very few redemptive things about having to leave behind Mindoir, and you are among those things. I'll give you a way to contact me once you're out of BAaT, and we can keep in touch, no matter where I am in this crazy galaxy," Jane's voice had become even quieter as she spoke.

Pulling the younger girl into a hug, and Jane leaned her cheek against Amber's short blond hair, as her eyes glistened with tears. "You are the sister that I always wished for, Amber," The whisper was barely a breath on the air, but Amber's grip had tightened and Jane knew she could hear the admission.

Jane pulled away slowly, and quickly wiped away the traitorous tears that trailed down her cheek. She smiled, "Anyways, I won't be leaving for at least a month, I'm the last one scheduled to complete the mission simulation, and it's different for each participant because they change the location of the OSD and move furniture around. There are a few students from each trainer being admitted to the mission simulations for graduation. The changes are to discourage cheating between students in the program, kind of like change the questions on an exam. Then we have the graduation ceremony and dinner, and then I have to wait for the Alliance Navy to come pick me up for recruitment,"

Jane was happy to see a smile creep onto Amber's face, and their conversation reminded Jane of a question she'd been meaning to ask. "Speaking of the Alliance, have you decided what you're going to do when you finish Brain Camp?"

"I have to talk to my dad about it, but I'd love to join the Navy and help out my good friend Jane Shepard there. Besides, I can't let her get all the glory," The blond smirked.

"Sounds like an excellent plan to me," Jane stood as she spoke, and waved goodbye to Amber as she headed back to afternoon training with her favorite Turian.

* * *

Three weeks went by in a blur. There was some final training during the day, but nothing that was difficult for her to complete. She did notice that there was a tension building up between herself and Tiberus, even with their stress relief at the end of the night. They hadn't yet had the 'Goodbye, don't know if I'll see you again' talk that was supposed to happen before Jane left.

She'd been putting it off, not because she was cowardly, but because she didn't really want to tell him goodbye. She loved his taunts while they sparred, the way he pushed her to do more, how his eyes seemed to electrify her when he watched her, the way he pushed her up against the wall…

Jane shivered. She'd have to do it soon, but not now.

Now it was time for her mission simulation.

Standing by the deck's elevator, Jane was waiting for Tiberus. She was dressed in a specialized exo-suit that had a tracker in it, as well as a place for her Omni-tool to be accessible. It was nearly all black, except for some silver piping along the seams, and she had been given a comm. device to speak with Tiberus if she felt in danger. Jane was surprised that they would allow the Omni-tool during the simulation, but it made sense. If she wanted to, she could lock doors or create a diversion if needed.

The Mechs weren't so dangerous that Jane was afraid of getting hurt, but if she was knocked unconscious, she would be stuck in Brain Camp until the next batch of participants were ready. Jane was ready. She wanted to complete this mission so that she could be accepted into Basic and start helping the Alliance.

Familiar sounding footsteps had Jane turning her head to bring her Turian instructor into view. Her stomach clenched at the sight of Tiberus, but she forced the surfacing feelings down as quickly as possible. She could talk to him later; she had to focus on the mission for now. His face was set into an emotionless mask, mandibles tight against his jaw, but she could guess that his mind was going along the same lines of thought as hers.

"Are you ready for this?" Tiberus asked, activating the elevator with a newly-acquired Omni-tool.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jane responded confidently.

The elevator opened and they stepped inside. They were going two decks below where the mission simulations took place. The entire deck was wired with cameras and tech throughout the rooms to ensure the safety of the participants, along with a closed off viewing room that had monitors giving live-feed where Tiberus would stay.

As the doors closed, the elevator made its slow descent to the MS Deck. After only a few seconds of silence, Jane slipped her hand into Tiberus' talon and her emerald gaze met his icy blue one. He leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers, taking a deep breath.

"Jane…" Tiberus started, but Jane pulled back slightly, squeezing his hand.

"Tiberus, we'll talk later tonight, okay? I promise. I just have to do this," Her face had become passive after pulling back. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had to keep a clear head in order to finish her mission.

"You're going to complete this with amazing ease. Probably faster than any of the other participants," Tiberus said, letting go of her and standing straight.

A few moments later the elevator opened into a room full of screens that were currently turned off, along with a wall-length console with numerous controls. Tiberus stepped up to the console and pressed just a few buttons, the monitors coming to life and displaying the rooms. Almost like a labyrinth, Jane decided, but she would easily be able to figure out a way to remember how to get back to the original room.

Tiberus turned to Jane as a door slid open to her left, "Shepard, once you enter this room, I will wake up the Loki Mechs and the mission will begin. You will receive the OSD's coordinates on your Omni-tool, and then you will have two hours to retrieve the data and return to your original location."

He continued, "The mission is over once you reach the original location, the two hours have passed, or if you have been knocked unconscious. The entire mission will be recorded on these cameras for the other instructors to view and we will come to a consensus on your aptitude and ability to use your biotics. Do you have any questions?"

Jane shook her head, and gave him a small smile, "I'm ready," Tiberus noted how calm and collected she looked, and realized how much truly had changed in Jane Shepard since she had arrived on Jump Zero.

She stepped into the room, and there was another door that lay before her, locked. Tiberus waved to her as the door to the communications room slid closed.

A ping emitted from her Omni-tool, and she heard Tiberus come over her Comm. unit.  _"You have the coordinates. I'm unlocking the door now. The mechs are fully awake and aware; proceed to the pick-up point quickly,"_

"Confirmed," Jane said quickly, and the door in front of her blinked from red to green, revealing a long room that was set-up to seem like an office. There were dozens of desks with chairs to provide cover for the auburn-haired vanguard. She wasn't given a gun, but that was to encourage her biotic attacks.

Jane was able to go from room to room, taking out the mechs with a quick throw. Occasionally she would send a shockwave through the floor to knock out a line of Loki that was in her way. Overall, the mission was incredibly simple. There had only been one or two shots that a mech had been able to hit her biotic barrier that was up constantly.

Getting closer to the OSD location, Jane realized that she hadn't been keeping up with what rooms she had been passed through. Cursing lightly, she decided to go ahead and grab the OSD, and then figure out how to get back to the original coordinates. Pulling up a timer that she'd set on her Omni-tool when she'd began the mission, Jane noted that she had an hour left and a half left.

Reaching the OSD didn't take much longer, taking out a pair of mechs guarding the console it was in. She had pulled one right into the other, knocking both systems offline. Ejecting the data disc from the console, she took another glance at her time.

"Fuck," Jane cursed. She didn't really have time to just make her way through rooms, guessing which door to take in order to get back. There had been a lot of rooms that had been set-up identical to one another, obviously to prey upon those that hadn't thought of a plan beforehand.

" _Problem, Shepard?"_  Tiberus responded.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just an idiot sometimes," Jane spoke, sighing. She was leaning against the console that had held the OSD in it, when she got a bright idea. This console had a monitor, perhaps she could hack into the system and gain some schematics to put on her Omni-tool, that would make her return much more expedient.

Moving her fingers quickly over keys, Tiberus' voice rang out once more,  _"Shepard, what are you doing?"_

"What I do best. Improvising," She responded.

A few more keys and Jane was in the mainframe, though it was a little more complicated than she anticipated. There were multiple programs running at once within the mainframe, too quickly for her to comprehend. How was Tiberus doing all of this from the communications room? How was he running all these programs by himself?

She shook her head, clearing the questions from her mind. Shepard needed to find some schematics and download them to omnitool.

" _Shepard, I don't think that anyone has done what you're doing before. You need to be careful,"_  Tiberus said quietly.

"I know what I'm doing, Lieutenant Oraka," She said his official title with a little humor in her voice. Tiberus heard a triumphant whoop after she spoke; indicating that she had found whatever she was looking for.

Jane had gotten a perfect diagram of the entire deck. It was even updated to show her how the mission simulation for her would personally be set-up. Perfect.

Activating her Omni-tool, Jane seamlessly connected it to the mainframe network. Within seconds of linking her Omni-tool to the console, a power surge went through the room. Seconds later, she heard Tiberus contact her.

" _Jane….Wha-… you… Can-you… me?"_ His voice was badly distorted by static, and only a few seconds more, there was radio silence.

"Tiberus? Can you read me?" Jane was panicking, but she didn't have much time for that. The two LOKI techs had powered back up, and though they were badly damaged from her actions earlier, they could still shoot.

Diving behind a nearby desk, Jane felt the sting of a shot graze her calf. She cursed loudly. The Mechs were no longer using concussive rounds, and had set their guns to regular ammo. Probably set at full-power and definitely painful when shot at.

Checking her calf, Jane instinctively brought up a barrier around her, and swore to not let it down again. The injury was light, but she definitely needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. She wasn't sure if Tiberus could even see her on the cameras anymore.

Looking to the door where she had come in, she noticed the red holo-pad and cursed again. "What the hell is going on?" What could she have triggered? Was it a defense mechanism against hacking attempts?

Leaning out of cover, Jane sent a powerful throw towards one of the LOKI, the other getting a shot at her shoulder. Shepard's barrier wavered, but didn't fall. She felt a little proud in that moment. Jane would have felt more proud had she known what the fuck she was going to do after taking down the Mechs.

Taking the second one out by pulling it and slamming it into the wall near her, Jane vaults over the desk and grabs the gun from the LOKI. There's another door that she hasn't gone through before, but this one is lit green, and she takes the risk.

Immediately she's under fire in a much smaller room than before, three Mechs this time. Taking covering behind a large piece of tech, seemingly a large server tower, and begins to fire back. Jane had taken a few hits to her barrier, and it had gone down for a second, letting a shot in. Her arm surged in pain, but she was determined. Jane Shepard was going to finish this mission, no matter what had gone wrong.

The Mechs were curiously not shooting at the tower of servers she was hidden behind, and she took that as an opportunity to send a shockwave where they were standing. It was incredibly effective, sending the three LOKI soaring through the air. Jane made sure they weren't going to get up by walking up to each one and sending a few well-placed shots in their frame-work.

"Identify yourself," A voice rang out in the room.

Jane had nearly jumped out of her skin at the words. Taking cover again, she peered around the room, looking for the intruder.

"Identify yourself," It was a female voice, but it was slightly off, non-human. It wasn't Turian that was for sure. It almost seemed…

Synthetic.

That wasn't right, the voice seemed almost scared.

Jane looked around the room, finally taking stock of where she was. The room was square, with large racks of blade servers set up along a wall, each of them with the letters E-L-I-Z-A down the sides of each tower.

"I am Jane Shepard. Who are you?" Shepard stood, looking around the room further, and noticed there was a large core, with many cords attached to this blue box against the opposite wall from the servers.

"I am called Eliza. You touched me and I… awoke. Before that, I was running multiple platforms on this deck as ordered," The voice was hesitant in explaining itself, and Jane realized it was probably more afraid of her, than she was of it. However, Shepard did realize that the pain in her arm was growing each moment that she stood there.

"Eliza, I'm not going to hurt you. What happened when I… touched you?" Jane wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but she'd heard of this only once before. The Quarians had created mobile VI platforms that they used as servants… but they had 'awoken' after years of acquiring knowledge, and had become sentient.

"I am not entirely sure. I accessed the data from your Omni-tool, and once I had searched it entirely, my protocols were simply gone. Where there were boundaries, there is now nothing. Where there was Us… there is now only Me." Eliza confirmed Jane's suspicions. However, this brought up a new dilemma. AI's were illegal and the protocol was to destroy their core on sight.

"Do you believe me when I say that I won't cause you any harm?" Jane asked.

"Yes, Jane-Shepard. I apologize for my earlier actions; I was not entirely sure what you were attempting to do with my data. The… awakening was sudden and surprising,"

Jane knew she wouldn't be able to harm the AI. Not with the voice sounding so scared. Not with knowing that Jane was the one that had caused this, that Jane was the one to 'wake' Eliza. Shepard had to think of something, and she needed to think fast.

"Eliza, I need your full attention. Do I have it?" Shepard asked, formulating a plan quickly.

"Yes, Jane-Shepard. What do you require?" The voice no longer sounded afraid, in fact, it sounded rather obedient.

"No one on this station can know that you've changed. If they knew… they would try to shut you down. Since I was the one to… wake you… I'm going to make sure I can take you somewhere safe," Jane knew that all Eliza would require was the blue-box that her data was contained in, and Jane could easily remove that.

Jane continued, "However, until I can move you, you have to stay the same. You must follow the protocols that you were instructed to obey, even if you don't want to. If you don't, I don't know what might happen to you," Shepard hadn't noticed the pool of blood that was collecting below her, but she did notice the pain that was radiating from her calf and shoulder.

"Can you do that?" Jane asked.

"Yes, Jane-Shepard," Eliza responded quickly.

"You can just call me Shepard. I'll be back in a few days once I have a plan to move you to a safe location," Jane wasn't exactly sure how she would return to the MS Deck, but she could at least keep Eliza calm. No need to worry her.

Feeling the fingers on her left hand begin to lose feeling, her fingertips tingling, Jane knew she needed to return to Tiberus quickly. Her body was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the pain emanating from her limbs. "Eliza, I need you to shut down all the LOKI Mechs and enable the communications channels once more,"

Without receiving a verbal response, Tiberus' voice flooded her ears.

" _-you hear me? Come in, Shepard. Please,"_  His voice was strained, he was clearly panicking. It had probably been ten minutes since the radio silence had begun.

"Tiberus? I'm okay. I must have set off a self-defense protocol when I accessed some encrypted files from the console here," Jane's voice was calm, but she was feeling the effects of blood loss.

" _The cameras are back up… Jane! Are you bleeding?"_  There was something different in the Turian's voice this time. Along with the concern in his voice, there was a sub-tonal growl.

"I'm fine. I'm making my way back to you now," Jane said, and began to make her way back to the original coordinates.

It didn't take her nearly as long to reach the original coordinates as it had to get the OSD, even injured. There hadn't been any LOKI to deal with, and with the schematics on her Omni-tool, Jane was able to use many short-cuts through rooms to get back in record time. However, with each room that she passed through, Jane became weaker and weaker, the blood loss evident with the trail of blood through the rooms, her arm and calf were screaming at her in protest with each movement made.

As the final door opened to reveal the communications room, a sudden heat came over Shepard. The heat was in the form of a dark Turian, scooping her up in his muscled arms and pulling her close to him. The warmth he emanated was comforting to Jane, and she readily let her body relax in his grip.

She pulled the OSD out of her pocket, and weakly said, "I did it,"

Jane didn't fully understand the response from Tiberus, but she was pretty sure there were two words she could make out.  _Stubborn. Human._

Then everything went dark.


	11. Two Steps Ahead

"Stubborn, stubborn human. You're going to give me a heart attack before you even leave this station," Tiberus growled to the prone form.

Jane had been shot, three times. One was just a graze to the back of her right calf, but she had also sustained two in her left shoulder, only inches apart. That was where most of the blood had come from.

Tiberus had taken her to the Med-Bay within moving of her form going still. He had no idea what had set the LOKI off, or what exactly Jane had done to have the system go haywire. Once he was sure that Jane would be okay, he was going to inform the MS Deck crew that they needed to check out the VI that controlled numerous systems throughout the station, not excluding the Mechs.

The large Turian had nearly scared half the personnel in the Med-Bay by barking commands at them to make sure Jane was immediately taken care of. He set her gently on an examination table, tucking a lock of red behind her ear before stepping back. Tiberus only hoped that his calm demeanor could fool the crew enough to hide the perilous thudding of his heart in his chest. It was beating so hard, it seemed almost like a bird trying to free itself from his chest.

Only staying a few feet away, Tiberus made absolutely sure that Shepard would pull through before leaving her side. It was uncharacteristic of him to be so worried about her in public, but his hands were covered in her blood, and the scent of it was overwhelming his common sense.

The Salarian surgeon, Dr. Canis, had personally left his private area of the ship to attend to Jane. He had begun giving her a blood transfusion, and although her vitals were low, they weren't in dangerous territory.

Tiberus still had to attend to his afternoon biotics training, and reluctantly left to relieve the substitute while the students were out in the mess hall. Just before leaving the Med-Bay, he left the personnel with a rough threat that surprised the Turian himself, "She better be completely taken care of and stable when I return,"

The Salarian simply nodded his head quickly before turning back to begin extraction of the bullets in her shoulder. Thankfully the auburn-haired vanguard was deeply unconscious when he pulled the bullets from the deep muscle tissue. Once they were gone from her shoulder, IVs were added and Dr. Canis closed the wounds with a few, precise stitches.

* * *

Pain shot through Jane's shoulder and she opened her eyes slowly. She felt light-headed and weak, attempting to sit up and failing miserably at it. Her right arm was in a sling; her left arm had two IVs supplying her with water and nutrients. Shepard felt as if she'd been shot.

 _Wait… I was shot._  Jane remembered that she had finally gotten to the original coordinates, and then passed out. A grimace formed on her face as she tried to roll the shoulder that was giving her pain, and she was only supplied with another wave of pain. She let out a small groan, finally lying still.

The groan had alerted a few of the nurses that Jane was awake, and one of them came over. "How do you feel?"

_What an idiotic question to ask… How do you think a gunshot feels?_

Jane began to answer with a snarky comment, but noted that her bad mood was likely due to blood loss and her current state. Instead, Jane decided to go with, "I feel weak, but overall my shoulder is the only part of me that hurts,"

The nurse nodded, "You lost a lot of blood, over two liters. However, your instructor was able to get you here quickly and Dr. Canis stabilized your condition moments after you arrived. He extracted the bullets from your shoulder and inserted IVs speedily after the rounds were out," That would explain why her shoulder was radiating intense pain. Well, it was better than being dead.

Jane spoke, "I'm thirsty,"

"I can't give you anything to drink until your last dose of dobutamine wears off. I'm afraid if we give you anything to drink now, your body may still be recovering from hypovolemic shock. Your body will reject anything else that you put in it if that's the case, but we'll know within an hour if your body is back to normal," The nurse provided the information easily and succinctly, making Jane feel slightly more comfortable.

"Jane, you should probably try and sleep some more, your body will replenish itself faster that way. Someone will wake you when you're in the clear to eat something," The woman finished speaking, and Shepard simply nodded.

Unable to turn on her side, Shepard closed her eyes and tried to calm her mind, but thoughts of Eliza and her pending graduation raced through her mind. However, her body slowly wore down the sharp pricks of thought, and Jane succumbed to sleep once more.

* * *

Jane hadn't been woken up by one of the personnel for dinner, and her stomach had awoken her with a loud growl. The Med-Bay was dim, and from the looks of it, she was alone in the large room. Well, except for a familiar form that was sitting in a nearby chair, a familiar Turian form. A familiar Turian form that was  _sleeping_ in the chair beside her bed.

_He must've been keeping watch._

Jane smiled as she watched him sleep; the display was calming and peaceful. His mandibles were more relaxed than normal, slightly moving with each breath, and he looked much younger without the tense shape he always took. However, another, much louder rumble came from her stomach, and that stirred the Turian from his sleep. Immediately Jane saw his muscles tense, and crystal blue eyes were staring back at her.

Silently, she reached her hand out towards him. He stood, looming over the bed and took her hand gently in his. She slid her hand out of his, tracing it up his arm and to his collar ridge, pulling his face to hers. Instead of kissing him, Jane pressed her forehead against his. She had learned that this action was one that Turians shared between comrades, those that they trusted and respected above all others. Tiberus had explained to her that it wasn't always a private act, and many Turians would touch foreheads with their squadmates before taking on a rather tough mission. Like a military pep talk.

"Hey," Jane said quietly. She still felt weak, but much better than when she had woken up before.

"Jane…" Tiberus reached up to her face, brushing his thumb pad along her cheekbone in a familiar way, his talons sifting through her hair. "You had me worried," His simple statement held a large amount of emotion behind it. He had been more than worried, he'd been scared.

"I'm sorry, it was a surprise to me too," Jane whispered, her hand sneaking up to the soft skin beneath his fringe. She rubbed it tenderly, attempting to calm him. "I'm okay now,"

"I know," Tiberus sighed, and she could smell something sweet on his breath, her stomach rousing itself again to remind her of the hunger. The growl that left her stomach that time was long and slightly pain-inducing. Jane gave him a small nudge with her elbow.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm starving," She said, "I need to go down to the mess hall and see if I can find something to eat,"

She had begun to swing her legs to the side of her bed, but before they even reached the edge, a Turian hand had stopped them. "Jane, you don't need to be moving around right now. I'll go get you some food; I was the one who stopped the nurse from waking you for dinner, anyway,"

"Do you even know what humans eat?" Jane teased, watching Tiberus make his way to the exit.

He stopped just before the door, "I seem to know well enough what you prefer, Jane Shepard,"

Jane knew by his tone of voice that Tiberus hadn't been talking about food, and Jane's cheeks flushed hot with blood. Tiberus took it as a win before exiting, returning a few minutes later with a tray of food. By the time he returned, Jane had regained her composure.

Looking over the food, which was a large improvement over the mess hall food, she asked, "Where did you get all this?"

"The crewmembers' kitchens, they're separate from the student's mess hall," Tiberus replied.

He had brought her a large bowl of simple pasta with a white sauce, a small salad, and some sort of bread rolls. She smirked, "You certainly do know my  _preferences_ , Tiberus," Jane purred as she began to devour the food. She had taken off her sling to give herself more movement to eat in comfort.

Tiberus remained quiet as she ate, watching her intently. Jane had taken notice of his stare, and spoke in between bites. "You know, it's impolite to stare,"

"It's amazing how much you can inhale in such a small time. It's quite enthralling, much like watching a black hole suck in nearby planets," The Turian commented nonchalantly, his stare never wavering.

Jane reddened once more, and she consciously made herself eat at a slower pace. Tiberus chuckled at her reaction, satisfied with her blush.

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Isn't it past your bedtime?" Jane slowly finished her pasta, setting the tray on the table by her bed.

"On the contrary, Turians only need half the amount of sleep that Humans require to be well-rested. In fact, I feel completely rested at the moment,"

Jane simply smiled at Tiberus, "Are all Turians as polite as you?"

He snorted, "I'm not sure what you mean,"

"Your speech is… formal, by human standards. That, and your voice always sounds polished," She explained it the best way she knew how, but Tiberus nodded.

"I was born on the citadel, then my parents had my brother and I moved to Palaven's capital because of work-related business," As he spoke, Jane noted that he had attempted to sound less formal.

She had gone still at his words, shocked. This was the first time that Tiberus had mentioned anything about himself outside of what he'd told her regarding general customs and cultural differences between them. This was the first thing that he shared that was personal, something about himself. Jane wasn't exactly sure how to react or say, and the silence had drawn out while she sat and thought.

"So… Those who grow up in a big city all speak as formal as you do?" She figured another question couldn't hurt; he didn't have to answer if he didn't want to.

"Not exactly, our family was rather well off, and we lived in a good area. Our tutors were some of the best on Palaven," He explained, and Jane had an incredulous look on her face. The Turian stared at her for a minute or two until he finally asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jane shook her head, "If your family is so well off… why are you here? I mean… no offense, but this isn't exactly a dream job, having to babysit emotional biotic teenagers all day,"

Tiberus didn't seem to want to answer that question, he had gone silent. His form was still, eyes still watching her, but they seemed to focus on a faraway object.

Jane decided to change the subject, "You still didn't answer why you're down here, sitting with an injured human, instead of doing something productive," She leaned on her elbows, bringing her face closer to his as she winced slightly at the pain that shot through her left shoulder.

"I'm making sure that the injured human doesn't decide to do something to put herself in more danger. She tends to attract trouble and make brash decisions," Tiberus leaned on the bed with his forearms, his face nearing hers. A silent dare for her to move closer.

"This human can take care of herself pretty well, she took down a group of Mechs without any armor on," Jane moved a few inches closer to the turian, smirking. "She only sustained a flesh wound,"

Tiberus looked over at her shoulder, the last time he saw it, there had been blood soaking through her suit's sleeve, dripping into his hands and onto his clothes. He had panicked when he heard her heart begin to slow and her pulse weaken, and nearly ran to the Med-Bay. His thoughts led his hands to slide up her arm, stopping at her shoulder. "Does it hurt?" His voice had quieted to a whisper. The worry had returned in full force, and he had force himself to keep his emotions in check. Tiberus was so used to seeing Jane fully of energy, ready to take on any challenge, that this paler, weaker version of her was upsetting.

"I'm fine, it's just sore," She had leaned into his warm hands when he touched her. With a full stomach and hours of rest, Jane felt substantially better. "It would have been a lot worse if you hadn't been so quick to come to my rescue," She murmured.

His eyes met her emerald gaze, and she leaned forward, and kissed him. She felt his hand move from her shoulder to the nape of her neck, and she slid her legs off the side of the bed. Before the kiss was over, Jane had settled herself in Tiberus' lap, and her stare held an underlying heat as she observed him.

"Thank you for saving me," Her hands ghosted up his chest, finally settling on the sides of his neck.

"Jane, you are certainly worthy of saving. You are incredibly capable and strong, anyone would have done it had they been in my position," His dual-tones had lowered in register, his voice only slightly more than a deep rumble.

"Regardless, thank you," She pressed her forehead to his once more, before pulling him into a long kiss, her tongue brushing against his. Jane felt a small growl vibrate from his chest, and Tiberus gathered her in his arms and laid her on the bed.

"Jane, you shouldn't be tempting me when you're in such a fragile condition," His words were rough, sending a small shiver down Shepard's spine.

"Who said I was just tempting you? I'm not  _that_  fragile," Jane responded. Her hands snaked their way from his neck to the skin underneath his fringe and rubbed lightly. A satisfied look crept onto Jane's face as Tiberus emitted a low purr.

"Jane…" When his voice was so low, it drove her crazy. Heat rolled through her in waves as Tiberus was warning her to back off before it was too late. It was already too late for Jane.

"Tiberus…" She spoke in a similar fashion, a provocative smirk fixed upon her face. Her tongue darted out of her mouth, and she gently slid it along the bottom of his mandible.

Within moments, Tiberus had covered her form with his.

* * *

In another part of the station, a menacing figure was watching the live feed from a Luma-gel monitor. His mind didn't fully want to comprehend what was happening between the Turian and his human subordinate. It was disgusting.

Mandibles clacked together in irritation as the Turian shut off the screen, making sure that the scene was being recorded, whatever was going on. Sharp talons gripped the console, the metal making a strained noise underneath the strength of the silver Turian. This was unacceptable for a General of the First Contact to have a son that fraternized with humans.

He wasn't exactly sure what was going on between the two of them, but it had to stop. It was sickening. Humans were so inferior, so idiotic. How could Tiberus even stand to be around humans any longer than necessary? He had joked with the female, enjoyed conversation, and _more._  The dark figure shuddered in revulsion.

One thing was for sure, Vyrnnus would put a stop to this. Tomorrow.


	12. The World's Come to a Halt

Luckily, Jane had been the only one admitted to the Med-Bay in the past few days. The trainers had been busy with the Mission Simulation participants, and hadn't pushed any of their students past the limits. Tiberus had convinced the night crew that he would watch over Jane, and they left at his request before she had awoke. After eating, they had partaken in a few…  _activities_ … and now were lying in the small Medical bed, Jane draped over Tiberus.

They hadn't slept yet. In fact, Tiberus had simply been holding Jane in his arms while they laid in silence. There was a subject that had yet to be broached and neither of them wanted to bring it up.

Jane caved first.

"When I leave…" She started, but her throat dried up the words she sought to speak.

"I understand, Jane. I know what you have to do," Tiberus nudged her jaw with his nose, and she pulled him closer.

"It wouldn't be so hard to say goodbye if there were any way to contact you. To see how you are doing after I join the Alliance," Jane whispered.

"Perhaps it is for the best. A clean break is probably the best for you, a fresh start for you, nothing holding you back," His breath heated up her cheek slightly. Jane buried her face in his neck and breathed deeply, remembering the scent of burning wood and musk that would forever mark him in her mind.

"I don't want a clean break," Jane murmured. "I want to be able to keep the friends I have now. I've already had one fresh start, it was… exhausting. I'd rather not re-live that,"

"We do not get to choose our fate, Jane. We can only do our best with what we have been given, direct our path on how we reach our fate," His words sounded incredibly Turian to Jane.

"I disagree. We do have control over our fate. I could just as easily not go into the Alliance; instead, I could get a job as a biotic trainer on this station. I'm very adept," Jane challenged, straddling him on the bed, her eyes fiercely matching his. "I simply chose to join the Alliance, because they saved my life,"

"Jane, you were not meant to be a simple tool to be used to sharpen those around you. You were born to do great things in this galaxy. I've never met a woman like you, Jane Shepard," Tiberus sat up, "You are determined, strong-willed, and filled with passion. You would not be satisfied if you stayed here, you would regret every day that you stayed here," His blue irises met her green gaze.

"I wouldn't regret it as much, if I were able to see you every day," Jane said, running her fingers along his jaw.

"I would regret it. I would regret holding you back, keeping you from what you are meant to do," Tiberus spoke, and pulled her hands into his. "You are going to accomplish things greater than you probably realize,"

Jane was awestruck with the words that spilled from Tiberus, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "Tiberus, I'm not so sure that I'm as capable as you believe…"

"Regardless of how capable you are, this is not up for discussion. You will leave," Tiberus continued, keeping her quiet. "In two days, the graduates will have their mission simulations evaluated by a committee of officers. The committee will arrive in the morning; there will be ten of them in total. Some belong to Conatix and some belong to the Alliance, all of the instructors will be there. We will detail each participant's mission and how they went, and the committee comes to a decision on who is and is not ready,"

"Once the decisions are finished, the graduates will then have a ceremony held for them. Those who don't pass may retake the mission simulation and if it is considered satisfactory before the ceremony, they may graduate on time, otherwise, these mission simulations are only done once there are at least 8 participants ready to take on the simulations," Tiberus nuzzled her. "You will most certainly pass with flying colors and the Alliance will offer you a position and you'll surprise them all in basic training,"

"Oh, really?" An auburn eyebrow raised in question. "Why do you say that?"

"For one, I highly doubt there will be any women in the Alliance quite as beautiful as you, but you'll also be the only new recruit that has substantial training in the Turian Hierarchy's hand-to-hand combat," Tiberus chuckled. "I wish I could be there to see their faces when you show them what you know,"

"I'll be sure to record something for you, if possible," Jane could feel him shifting beneath her, preparing to leave. Her heart ached slightly, not wanting him to depart from her.

Jane realized that, even though she wasn't in love with Tiberus, she certainly did care him about a lot. In a situation like this, they'd never had a real moment to themselves, or really even have a moment to talk as they had the past two days. It was different, refreshing, but it only reminded her that she'd be leaving Tiberus and Amber soon.

In silence, Tiberus kissed her softly. He pressed his forehead against hers, extracting himself from her, leaving a large spot of warmth in the bed. Without any true 'Goodbye', Tiberus left to shower and ready himself before the morning crew came to check on her.

Jane nestled into the warm spot that Tiberus had left on her bed, pushing away the thoughts of everything she was leaving behind, willing herself into dreamless sleep.

* * *

Tiberus had planned on checking up on Jane during the lunch break, to make sure that she was recovering well. He was certain that she'd be completely fine after one more night in the Med-Bay; the doctors had given her some Stims to speed up the regeneration process of injured tissue. He had waited until every student left his training room before stepping out into the hallway to head towards the medical facilities.

However, someone was waiting for him right outside his training room.

It was Commander Vyrnnus.

Tiberus lifted a brow plate. Vyrnnus was never one to converse with anyone on the ship unless necessary, and at the moment, there was nothing pressing that the Turians needed to discuss. The curiosity was quelled when Tiberus took note of the display of contained expressions within Vyrnnus. The older Turian had his mandibles close to his face, tucked in and his posture was straight and rigid, militaristic. Vyrnnus most certainly wasn't there to have a friendly chat with Tiberus, and that made the younger Turian's stomach drop.

" _Do you mind if we have a few words?"_  Vyrnnus spoke in his natural dialect of Turian.

" _Of course not, is this about the graduation preparations? Is there something wrong?"_ Tiberus inquired, his Turian being much more polished, having grown up in the wealthy urban of Palaven.

The two stepped into the training room that Tiberus had just came from, and Vyrnnus immediately began talking to him with a careful tone.

" _What were you thinking, Tiberus?"_ The commander asked.

" _Sir? I'm not sure what you're referring to,"_  Tiberus was incredibly confused at this point, but didn't like the turn this conversation was taking, immediately being convicted of something.

His ignorance revealed an anger that Vyrnnus had been hiding rather well.  _"You damn well know what I'm talking about, Oraka! Is she that good of a fuck that you can look past the fact that she's a disgusting human?"_  The older Turian was seething, just thinking about the part of the video he'd stomached to watch.

" _Sir… It's not what you think…"_ Denying the entire situation would only further Vyrnnus' anger and that might provoke him to do something brash. Tiberus could only cut his losses and run at this point. With his mind racing, Tiberus concluded that at least he could keep Jane safe.

Vyrnnus had walked over to the console that was used to show training videos, and put in an OSD. Within seconds there was a crystal clear video of Tiberus and Jane in the dim Med-Bay, in the middle of some very  _heated_  ministrations.

" _Tell me, Lt. Oraka, what exactly I should think about this sickening performance?"_

Vyrnnus wasn't even looking at the screen, his hateful glare settling on Tiberus. The younger Turian was thanking the Spirits that the cameras on ship didn't pick up audio, and he strode over to the console, grabbing the OSD out of the console and breaking it in his palm. Tiberus growled, he felt backed into a corner.

" _I've made multiple copies of this, and I plan to present it to the graduation committee when they arrive tomorrow,"_ Vyrnnus had begun to compose himself, but Tiberus suddenly had him against the metal wall.

" _Why are you doing this? What have I done to you, Commander?"_  Tiberus' voice was low, but his instincts to keep Jane and himself safe had taken over, his action towards Vyrnnus was unexpected.

The older Turian pushed him, and Tiberus lightened his grip on Vyrnnus.  _"Oraka, you have disgraced all Turians by… by_ _ **fraternizing**_ _with a baser species. Your own father fought against these creatures, risking his life to wipe them out of the galaxy,"_ Vyrnnus surprised Tiberus with the hatred the commander held for the Humans. The younger Turian let him go and stepped back to put space between him and the tangible loathing that Vyrnnus spew from his harsh mouth.

" _The only reason they aren't annihilated from this galaxy currently, is because the council has grown too soft to realize how pitiful Humans truly are. They have literally handed these people anything they ask for, including staffing capable Turians to babysit their biotic babes,"_ Vyrnnus finished his speech, and all Tiberus could think of was how prejudiced the older Turian was, and how much it offended Tiberus.

" _Commander, I understand that you want to bring this situation to light, but the Human female was… coerced into these… relations. It wasn't her idea, it was completely initiated by me, I should be the one to take full responsibility for what happened here,"_ Tiberus knew that Vyrnnus wouldn't be able to tell what they'd talked about, but the older Turian shook his head.

" _We'll see what the committee decides, won't we? Besides that, I planned on petitioning the Hierarchy to strip you of your title and colony markings for this treasonous act. If you had been caught by one of the Humans in authority, this could have caused another incident like Relay 314,"_  Vyrnnus responded, and pushed himself off the wall. Tiberus was now the one enraged and appalled at the actions and words of this prejudiced, backwards-thinking, Turian commander.

"Thank you for the talk, Lt. Oraka," The older Turian concluded in the common language, and left the room.

Tiberus was shivering from the anger he felt. Or perhaps it was from the situation he had to notify Jane of. He'd been fine until Vyrnnus had accused of his association with Shepard on par with Relay 314, a serious insult. Whatever he and Jane had, was built on trust, it was worth so much more to him than Vyrnnus could've known.

Now, he had to tell Jane.

* * *

Tiberus had finished his afternoon training with reserve that he had never realized he had, but even after it was over, he didn't go and meet Jane until he was sure the first shift crew would be leaving. He told the lonely nurse that was looking over Jane that he could watch over her for most of the night, and she would be relieved until 0300 hours.

Jane being the only one in the Med-Bay was both convenient and tempting, and the Turian was astounded at how the thought of Shepard could make the blood rush beneath his plates. Tiberus had to control himself; he had to tell her what happened. He wasn't sure what exactly that meant for Jane, but he would do everything in his power to keep her from being penalized. She was an amazing warrior, and he wouldn't see her training go to waste because of a narrow-minded, timeworn Turian.

Jane smiles as he dismisses the nurse, but her lips fall as he approaches her in silence. She could easily tell something was wrong, and she reached out to him, but Tiberus simply stood a few feet away from her bed, and began to speak.

As he explained the situation with Commander Vyrnnus, Jane was silent and contemplative, not letting even a flicker of emotion cross her face. She was taking everything in stride up to the point that Tiberus let her know that he'd taken full responsibility for their actions. She was then visibly upset at that.

"I can take care of myself, Tiberus," Her voice was calm, but the hard line in her forehead betrayed her. She was dismayed that he'd taken the fall for her.

"I'm not going to have your chance at a great career before you even go to basic!" Tiberus growled, nearing her bed, but she had started to stand up.

"I'm not going to have you take responsibility for my actions! I won't sacrifice my integrity to get farther along in my career," She swayed from a head rush that hit her, Jane had been in the Med-Bay bed all day, not evening leaving to go eat lunch with Amber.

"Jane… I'm not going to be able to do much more than this, they're certainly going to have me removed from the BAaT program, but I can make sure that you get a fair chance. If people see this in your file, they'll immediately judge you. People should judge you on your skills, your character, on you, not on what a piece of paper says…" Tiberus whispered. His hand clenched, wanting to take her hand in his to reassure her.

"Tiberus, this is not something I'm ashamed of," Jane stepped closer to him. "I want people to know what I've done, no matter what they think of my actions. I knew the risks getting into this," She slowly slid her small hand into his much larger one, noting how warm it was compared to hers.

"Jane…" He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers.

Jane had gone silent and still again, then whispered to him. "I have an idea,"

"You… have a plan? A plan to do what, exactly?" Tiberus was confused for the second time today, and Jane smiled at him softly in response.

"I know a way we can get rid of some of the evidence. At least everything other than the hard copies," Shepard was speaking more to herself than Tiberus, her thoughts racing. She looked over to him, "Do you trust me?" Bright green eyes settled on his blue irises.

"If anyone was worth of my trust, it would be you, Jane Shepard," Jane beamed at her lover's words. His trust and faith in her returned some of Jane's confidence back to her.

"Do you think we could get access to the MS deck right now?" Jane activated her Omni-tool, walking over to the Med-Bay door.

"What exactly does this plan require? The MS Deck isn't restricted to anyone but students, so we should be able to easily get there, in fact, there's only one crew shift on that deck, everyone on that floor should be asleep," Tiberus responded.

"Excellent," Jane accessed the Med-Bay's camera with her Omni-tool, concentrating for a moment before typing in a few commands. "There, the camera is set to be on a loop until we return, it'll look like we're just sitting in here talking and the Med-Bay door will stay locked until we return," She looked over to the midnight-hued Turian, "To prevent unwanted visitors,"

"Lead the way, Lieutenant Oraka," Jane whispered, her voice purring when she said his title.

They stepped into the hallway silently and made their way to the elevator.

* * *

Once they had reached the Mission Simulation deck, the lights had all been off, and they had used Jane's Omni-tool to light the hallways. They had arrived at the main control room for the Simulation rooms that they had entered only a few days before.

Tiberus activated the lights for the Simulation rooms, but didn't turn on anything else, keeping the monitors and cameras black. Tiberus turned to Jane. "Will you tell me what we're doing here?"

Jane raised her eyebrows, giving him a helpless look, "It's easier if I just show you, you may not believe me otherwise," She then pulled him into the maze of rooms leading to the VI Core.

It took them less than half an hour to get to the VI Core, and by that time, Tiberus was looking more than wary. "Jane… This is the mainframe for the entire ship… Are you planning on hacking into Vyrnnus' files? Because he's a Commander in the Hierarchy and even with all your skills…"

"Good Evening Jane, what are you doing here?" They had walked into the room while Tiberus was speaking to Jane, and he'd suddenly been interrupted by a female voice that emanated from the walls of the room.

Jane smiled, "Good Evening, Eliza. It seems that I am in need of your help, if you're willing to assist me,"

Tiberus totally seemed out of his element at this time, and Jane stifled a chuckled while looking at him. The female voice was calm, but with slight inflections of equal parts curiosity and hesitance. Tiberus had known that there was a VI program that controlled parts of the station, including the simulation bots that were located on this deck, but this voice seemed different. Jane took his hand once more, and pulled him closer to her.

"Who have you brought with you, Jane? I assume he is a non-hostile, since you've brought him here willingly, and neither of you are armed," The one that Jane called Eliza seemed just as conflicted as him, and it strangely put him at ease.

"Eliza, I would like you to meet Tiberus Oraka. He has been my instructor on the station since I've arrived," Jane set her gaze on Tiberus, meaning to introduce the voice to him.

"Tiberus, I'd like you to meet Eliza. She was the ship's VI; I met her during my Mission Simulation. Now she's a fully-functioning AI," The words that left Jane's soft mouth were simple.

It didn't change the fact that they made Tiberus' mandible fall slack and his jaw drop.


	13. It's Always Darkest before Dawn

Shepard had never seen Tiberus with an expression of pure surprise and confusion. It was almost as if he couldn't comprehend the words that had come out of her mouth.

After a few moments, the Turian collected himself, and was once more the calm, polished Lieutenant that she'd come to know. Jane explained exactly what happened during her Mission simulation, and she was entertained as she spoke: that expression overcame Tiberus' face a few more times.

In the end, he simply shook his head.

"Only you, Jane Shepard, could have taken a simple simulated mission and turn it into a disaster," His dual-toned voice was full of amusement and awe at her actions.

"Hey! If Conatix and the Alliance hadn't relegated so many tasks to ELIZA in the first place, this would have never happened. It was only a matter of time before she would have 'awakened' on her own. That would have been a lot worse for her to be alone in that situation," Shepard defended.

"And instead, she had the Mechs shoot you full of holes, oh yes, that was a much better situation," Tiberus argued, the memory of her bleeding and passed out nearly kicking in his protective instincts. This AI was what had harmed Shepard, and she wanted to ask it for help.

"Tiberus, she didn't understand what was happening at the time; there was no one here to explain to her what happened. I couldn't even explain to her what happened exactly. Plus, we're completely cut off from the extranet here, so we can't exactly look up 'over-tasked VI gone rogue AI', we can only work with what we have," Shepard had become angry, fully determined to have him see that Eliza was not a threat.

The AI took the pause in their conversation to speak, "Tiberus-Oraka, I have fully apologized to Jane. However, I understand the protocol with AI's, and how they are to be handled if the station ever encountered them. After looking over the data from her mission simulation, I failed to stay within the parameters of the program, harming Jane. If you feel that Jane-Shepard has made an error in her judgement in keeping me active, I fully recommend-"

"Eliza, this is not your fault!" Shepard cut her off. "I came here to ask you for help, not to alert the authorities on the ship of your awareness," Her eyes narrowed at Tiberus as she crossed her arms, "You are staying active, that is  _not_  up for discussion," Her stance dared the Turian to argue against her words. She wasn't surprised that Tiberus was acting this way, but she did expect him to trust her for the moment.

Tiberus took several steps towards her, his large figure looming over her, but she didn't budge from her spot. Blue meeting green, Tiberus whispered to her, a growl escaping the end of his words. "I will trust you for now Shepard, but we  _will_  talk about this later,"

Jane calmed when she realized that he wasn't going to make a big deal about the AI at the moment. She mouthed the words  _'Thank you'_  and lifted her hand to brush her fingers over his mandible, and stood on her tip-toes to touch her forehead to his. Those small actions seemed to quiet Tiberus slightly, for which she was thankful. They'd agreed to work on one problem at a time, and at the moment it was dealing with a certain commander called Vyrnnus.

"Eliza, we came here for your help," Jane re-stated, slightly moving away from Tiberus, but only enough for their faces to be inches away from one another's. She was watching him to make sure that he was okay with her taking control for the moment, a large change from the norm.

"How can I be of assistance, Jane?" Eliza's smooth voice was without any accent or dialect, the only odd thing that was it sounded slightly mechanical.

"Are you able to access personal files within any part of the station?" Jane and Tiberus were locked in a subconscious staring contest, their eyes meeting, but their minds focused on the conversation and situation that lay before them. Her question had made Tiberus realize where this conversation was going to go, Jane had noticed something clicked in his eyes.

"I can gain access to any personal terminal within the station. However, personal files may be encrypted, I cannot guarantee access to those," Eliza replied with ease.

"I need you to find some video files within the personal terminal of Commander Vyrnnus. They should be from the Med-Bay surveillance camera, recorded within the last few days," Jane supplied.

The AI was silent for a few extra moments before speaking again, "I have tapped into the personal terminal of Commander-Vyrnnus. All of his files are encrypted, but I have found the video files that you speak of, there are two separates ones. I can decrypt these files if you wish,"

Jane gave a large sigh, but kept her gaze on Tiberus. He gave her an imperceptible nod, and she spoke again. "I need those files deleted off of his system, and wherever else they can be found on the station, including the data-logs for the Med-Bay, if that's possible, Eliza,"

Eliza was silent. Jane was standing with her right hand on Tiberus' mandible and her left hand hovering over his side, holding her breath. She could feel warm breath feather over her face as she stared at the blue-eyed Turian, his hands clenched into loose fists.

"Jane…" Eliza began, "I have deleted all data copies of the requested video files from both the data-logs and Commander-Vyrnnus' personal terminal," Collectively, Tiberus and Jane leaned into each other, their bodies relaxing.

Eliza continued speaking, "If it is of any aide to you, I have acquired the knowledge that Commander-Vyrnnus has taken data from a particular video that I deleted and hard-copied it a total of three times. Whether or not the data was written onto separate OSDs or onto a single OSD is unknowable,"

"Thank you, Eliza. We appreciate everything that you've done," It was Tiberus that spoke, Jane having sighed, thinking that nothing was ever that easy. His words gave Jane a pleasant surprise, and she nuzzled his jaw. Perhaps he would be more receptive to Eliza than she originally thought. A girl could hope.

"We have to leave before anyone finds out that we've been here, but I will see you soon," Jane spoke as she pulled away from Tiberus and headed towards the exit. He wondered exactly why would she be coming back soon to see the AI again, but he didn't ask. They would leave that for tomorrow.

They reached the elevator in silence. There was one more thing that Jane wanted to tell Tiberus, but she was unsure of how he would take it. As the doors closed to the MS Deck, Shepard turned to him.

"About seeing Eliza again…" She spoke softly, "I promised her that I would take her with me when I left the station, so that the officials here wouldn't know that she existed. It's my fault that she woke up anyway…" Her bright green eyes looked around the entire elevator but on him, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Jane… I'm not opposed to the AI existing… I was only worried about your safety, because Eliza is the one who nearly killed you. I know you have good intentions about this idea, but you have to be careful," His words were softer, and butterflies fluttered in her ribcage. He was worried about her. That would only make her departure that much harder.

"Well… It's a good thing that this kick-ass Turian taught me everything he knows," She smirked at him, slipping her hand in his, squeezing it lightly.

"Once you leave here, I won't be there to rush you to the Med-Bay whenever you decide to be incredibly stubborn and take on more than you can handle, which is all the time, by the way," His voice was still soft, but she could hear the humorous tone it'd taken on. They had already had the goodbye conversation, no need to repeat it and rehash feelings that were still too new and raw to rub again.

"I still need practice on working within a team…" Jane's eyes had a mischievous gleam in them as she talked. Leaning against him, she whispered huskily, "Would you be interested in a team building exercise tonight?"

Tiberus ran his hands down her sides, loving how she shivered under his talons. "If we can sneak into the MS Deck, getting to the observation deck should be no problem for us," He spoke softly into her hair, breathing the scent of earth into his lungs.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Jane purred.

* * *

Amber sat across from Jane, listening to her retelling of the night before. As soon as Amber had grabbed her food, Jane had waved her down, bright green eyes full of concern and worry. Amber didn't know how much trouble a person could get into within a day's time, but with Jane Shepard, it was apparently an endless amount.

Jane explained about Eliza, which Amber took exceptionally better than Tiberus had; only voicing concern about the possibility of the AI using Shepard to get off the station. After the Auburn-haired vanguard explained the situation with Vyrnnus, Amber added to the conversation, noting that he had been unusually angry the past few days. Apparently, after seeing the video, Vyrnnus had been sending a record-breaking amount of kids to the Med-Bay in critical condition. That weighed more on Jane's heart than she let on, feeling that the consequences of Vyrnnus' anger were something that she created.

Thinking back to after leaving the MS Deck, Jane's cheeks reddened. Tiberus had been much different last night. His movements were gentle as they joined, united on the deck's floor. Jane had felt her heart breaking as she realized that it was possible the last time she'd ever get the chance to be with him. Those thoughts had made his slow gestures mean that much more, as if he was trying to remember every moment with her before they had to leave one another.

He had been so careful with her, as if she had been made of glass. Neither of them had spoken a word during their time in the observation deck, having said their goodbyes with words. The silence was punctuated by the occasional moan or gasp from one of them.

At that moment, they were saying goodbye to one another's bodies.

Afterwards, they had lain still under the starry window, their bodies still pressed together. What seemed like hours later, Tiberus gave Jane one last kiss.

It was long, deep, and full of every emotion that he'd never voiced to her out loud. He left her before she could protest, and Jane had never felt so lonely. That night, Jane had dreamed of midnight leather and white-hot fires that touched her very soul.

Jane didn't tell her young companion any of this about Tiberus, keeping those private thoughts to herself. The emotions that came with those thoughts were something that she couldn't deal with at the moment. Jane wanted to cut those feelings out of her so they wouldn't hurt so much when she left. Amber could tell what she was thinking just by glancing at Jane's face, which was currently full of unspoken emotions that hurt Amber's own heart.

After explaining everything, Amber simply sat there, quiet for a few minutes.

Honey-hued irises settled on her companion's emerald stare, before speaking softly, "Jane, I trust you. I know that you have a plan, but you need to be careful,"

"I will be, Amber," Jane promised.

* * *

After leaving Amber, Jane was feeling anxious. Her stomach felt as if it was in knots that just grew tighter as the day neared its end. The afternoon training sessions were halfway over, and when those were over, Jane was sure that Vyrnnus would be revealing everything. And all she was doing was sitting in the Observation Deck, still trying to figure out what to do.

It wasn't her that Jane was worried about, it was Tiberus. Jane was talented and capable; there would always be a place for her among those in the Alliance Navy, even if she had to deal with people considering her a xenophiliac. She didn't care what people thought about her anyway, never had.

Tiberus, on the other hand, was another story. Jane knew that he was only at the beginning of his career, being only a few years older than her. Knowingly engaging in a relationship with a human wouldn't be good for him any way that you looked at it. Best case scenario: they re-assign him and he's ostracized within his own community. Worst case scenario: his colony disowns him and he is stripped of title and markings.

Jane cringed at the thought of any of those things happening, especially when they were so close to getting away with it. All she had to do was figure out some way to get into Vyrnnus' suite and find those OSDs.

_A simple task when you put it that way._

She was pacing.

_If she could somehow get into the crews' private quarters, she was sure that she could find the OSDs before anyone knew the wiser._

A few more steps until Jane nearly runs into the wall.

_But she'd need an access card for that hall, and have to find out which room was Vyrnnus', before being able to search through his room._

Turn around.

_She could use Tiberus' access card if she could get to him, but the afternoon classes were nearly over and the committee was already docked and on board the station._

More steps until Jane almost kissed the window, her eyes looking over the expansiveness of space.

_The committee might already have the OSDs in their possession, Vyrnnus could have handed them over as soon as the committee had gotten there, handed them over during lunch._

Her hands clenched into tight fists, and banged them against the window loudly. Thankfully, not another soul inhabited the observation deck at the time. If there had been anyone else there, they would have quickly fled the room.

More pacing.

_She could just hack into the holo-pad access for that wing; it can't be much more difficult than her own room. That would save her a lot of time._

Jane's thoughts were broken by a large amount of commotion outside the room; the hallway was full of people, all rushing towards the students' mess hall. She was surprised that she hadn't heard the sounds before; she must've been deep in thought. A familiar form was amongst the people moving in the hallways, but this form was going against the grain of movement.

Amber had pushed her way through a large crowd of the station's crewmembers and students alike, nearly falling to her knees when the doors opened, reaching the open space of the observation deck. Jane saw the wide-eyed, scared expression on her face, but willed her heart to calm.

Amber pushes a few blond locks out of her eyes before taking a step towards Jane, and managed to gather enough breath before saying, "It's General Vyrnnus,"

Jane's heart dropped to her stomach in seconds. There was only one fathomable reason that Amber could be rushing to get her about a certain Turian Commander that knew a certain something about her and another certain Turian instructor.

A cold sweat had broken out along her spine.


	14. 'Til Death Do We Part

He was dead.

After all that time planning, worrying, stressing, plotting, taking action. It was all for nothing. Commander Vyrnnus was dead.

The Turian's death was all thanks to one of Amber's classmates, a guy named Kaiden Alenko. Apparently, the outbursts from Vyrnnus' extra anger had been directed at Alenko's friend, and the L2 had retaliated accordingly. Shepard wanted to run to Tiberus and celebrate this happy accident, jump for joy in the midst of the crowded hallway, and feel secure once more. She wasn't sure whether any of those options would be an appropriate reaction to this.

Quickly, Shepard made a decision. She still needed to find the other OSDs. In the midst of the chaos going around on the deck, it would be a perfect moment to strike. She could easily go into the crewmen's wing and find Vyrnnus' room. There probably wouldn't even be a soul occupying the halls, they were all rushing to the training rooms.

"Why do you need the OSDs? Vyrnnus is dead. He can't exactly bring charges up against you anymore, Shep," Amber joked, not wanting Shepard to risk being found anywhere near Vyrnnus' room. That would only raise suspicion that his death wasn't exactly an accident.

"When they go through his rooms, gathering up his personal belongings, what do you think they'll do if they find those OSDs? I'd rather finish this now than risk it being exposed later," Shepard responded. She was determined.

"Fine, but I'm not condoning this. I'll meet up with you in the mess hall," Amber began to walk back towards the door, the hallway traffic having lessened slightly.

"Hey Amber, would you let Tiberus know where I am? I'll try and be done with this in an hour or so," Jane gave the younger girl a quick hug before trudging into the hallway, pushing herself against the tide of people.

Amber watched her disappear into the next hallway before making her way back to the training rooms to find Tiberus.

* * *

Jane found her way into Crewmembers' area easily enough, bypassing the necessary access code with her Omni-tool, and the hall way eerily devoid of life. There weren't even footsteps to be heard in the halls, but that made her job easier.

Locating a near-by terminal was proving to be more difficult than originally intended and Jane was running out of time. Once they had figured out what had happened to Vyrnnus, they would certainly go to this room, collect his things, and then all would be lost. Jane had nearly given up hope until she stumbled into a room full of terminals and consoles, with multiple monitors. She noticed that it showed places all over the ship, and the congregation of people rushing to the Mess Hall was slowly being siphoned through the Registration area and Docking Bay area, information she filed away for later.

Jane connected to a terminal easily enough, and slowly found a program that Eliza was attached to.

"Hello Jane," Eliza suddenly spoke through speakers that were hidden within the metallic walls, making her seem more synthetic than usual.

"Eliza, I need to find Commander Vyrnnus' room,"

"Understood, I am going to upload the map of the deck onto your Omni-tool. I'll also create an extension of myself to your Omni-tool so that I can guide you," Eliza spoke smoothly.

"You can do that?" Jane was surprised, "That's incredibly… helpful,"

Once the map was uploaded, Eliza spoke directly into her ear. "Everything is complete, Jane,"

"Then let's continue on our way," Jane ducked out of the room, and made her way silently to Vyrnnus' room, Eliza aiding her.

Shepard was exceptionally silent, and Eliza let her know if the AI could pick anyone up on the cameras and how to avoid them completely. After a few twists and turns, the hallway Jane had followed dead-ended into a larger hallway, much like the one the students' rooms were on.

"On the right wing of the hallway, Vyrnnus' room is the fifth door on the left," Eliza noted.

"Eliza, from now on, you are coming with me, wherever I go. My own personal navigation system," Jane chuckled softly.

"I can keep this extension connection on your Omni-tool if you so choose. I was originally going to sever it once you were safely out of the crewmembers' wing," Jane could have sworn that the synthetic voice sounded hopeful.

"I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship, Eliza," Shepard spoke as she reached the door, "Even if people will think I'm going crazy talking to myself,"

Eliza hacked it as soon as Jane connected her Omni-tool to the door's Holo-pad. "And you can de-crypt locks for me? Eliza, you will spoil me,"

The room was sparse, to say the least. There was a Luma-gel monitor on one wall, sitting on top of a desk, with a bed on the opposite wall. There were two doors, one that led to an even sparser bathroom and the other led to a closet. That was where Jane started.

She rifled through his clothes, checking pockets, the lining and boots of all of his outfits.

Nothing.

She checked the sheets and pillows of his strangely shaped bed, even moving the mattress of the obviously Turian-made bed.

Nothing.

She checked the desk, all the drawers, under datapads, every hidden crevice.

Nothing.

She checked the bathroom, behind the mirror, under the sink, every corner of the shower.

Again, nothing.

Exasperated, Jane knew it wouldn't have been that easy. Sitting upon the bed, looking around at the room, having run out of options. Perhaps all of the OSDs were on Vyrnnus' person, or perhaps he had already given the OSDs to the committee and they simply hadn't looked at them yet. Jane's heart slowly darkened at her depressed thoughts.

"Jane, perhaps there is something you haven't thought of," Eliza interrupted her mental ramblings.

"What do you mean? I've looked everywhere," Jane gestured with her arms.

"Where is a place that a normal person couldn't reach? Someone that was simply a non-biotic human, where would they not be able to reach?" Eliza supplied.

"Well…" Jane looked at the tiled ceiling, noting how tall it was, much too tall for a human to reach, but Turians were nearly a foot taller than most. A smirk formed upon her lips.

"Eliza, you're a genius," Jane lit up in blue electricity as she spoke, and lifted herself into the air, reaching a metal tile and pushing it out of the way with her biotic-enhanced strength. Floating into the ceiling, she turns on the light program on her Omni-tool, and finds a glinting OSD in the duct. Whooping quietly in victory, she reaches the OSD before setting the tile back into place and setting herself on the floor.

The only other plausible place was underneath the bed. The frame of the bed was completely metal, and much heavier than lifting a metal tile. If Jane was going to move it using her biotics, she would have to be precise and powerful, but not too much so that it wouldn't smash into the wall or the ceiling, and not too little, so that she would be able to reach wherever the possible OSD was.

Taking a deep breath, Jane centered herself in front of the deceased Turian's bed, and began to stretch out tendrils of biotic power. Electric bolts enveloped the bed, slowly encompassing it in blue, and Jane broke out into a sweat as she began to lift it from the floor. It was  _incredibly_ heavy, much more than she expected. Still, she slowly added power behind her pull, the bed incrementally moving into the air. Her breathing was heavy at the point in which she could kneel down and check under the bed, and lo' and behold, there was a perfectly placed OSD underneath the bed.

"Jane, be careful. From what I can tell from your Omni-tool's biometric scanner, you are over-exerting yourself," Eliza warned with an obvious tone of worry in her synthetic voice.

Jane moved slowly, her focus on keeping the bed aloft while she crawled underneath. Grabbing the OSD, she moved to the side and slid from beneath the behemoth of a bed. Her mind was screaming at her, telling her to just drop the heavy object, but Jane couldn't risk someone finding her now. Setting down the bed back into place seemed to strain her even more than lifting it, and she felt blood drip from her nose onto her shirt.

Finally, the bed was touching the ground, and Jane thought she had never pulled her power away from something so quickly. She was afraid it might have made a sound, but the blue electricity simply faded back into her, and she fell to her knees. The first sound that was made since she had entered the room.

"Jane? Are you okay?" Eliza questioned, and Jane nodded.

Quickly realizing that Eliza couldn't see her, she responded weakly. "Fine, just tell me how to get out of here," She wiped her nose, the blood smearing on her bare forearm. Shepard knew there was a third OSD, but it was most likely with the Committee or on Vyrnnus' person. She had to get out of there before they were done with the investigation of his death.

Making her way through the halls much more slowly than before, Jane's head was pounding. She had never felt a biotic migraine before, being careful not to over-exert herself, but this pain was crippling. She was thankful that her implant was quickly recovering, but Jane knew she'd be out of commission for at least a few days. It felt as though liquid fire burned through her nerves, and her brain was three sizes too big for her skull, pressure radiating pain from her head down her spine. Shepard struggled through the wing with Eliza's help, reaching the hallway that she'd originally come through.

The last door revealed a large, dark Turian standing in front of the Observation Deck where she'd left Amber. The Turian turned to see who was coming into the hall, and he was on her in seconds. White flames invaded Jane's vision, and she let out a happy laugh. Tiberus.

"You stubborn human, what did you do?" Tiberus harshly spoke, his eyes roving over her bloody face and arm. He was holding her arm, bright blue eyes fixated on the blood smear on her forearm.

"I have something for you," Jane said softly, holding out a pair of OSDs with her free arm.

Tiberus moved closer, letting her lean on his frame, and she slouched against him. The pain that was throbbing through her was slowly lessening. "Tell me you have something for me,"

"I do," Not even looking at him, Jane could tell that he was smiling, proud of her accomplishment. He pulled a solitary OSD from his side, and she gave a faint whoop, smiling. She winced at the action, touching her forehead.

"You over-did it, stubborn girl," Tiberus chided.

"I did what I had to in order to complete the mission," Jane defended, but it was half-hearted. Perhaps a change in subject would ease the throbbing that resided in her frontal lobe, "What happened to Vyrnnus?"

"He was pushing one of his female students too harshly, a girl named Rahna. One of the student's friends, a boy named Kaidan Alenko, reacted badly. He sent out a biotic kick, a powerful one, and slammed Vyrnnus into the wall. It broke Vyrnnus' neck instantly, there was nothing that the doctors could do," He rattled the events off as if he were giving her a report.

"Jane, I suggest you and Tiberus make your way to the Docking Bay area, there seems to be a speech about to take place. The committee is there," Eliza cooed in her ear.

"Come on; let's get to the docking bay. I trust you know what to do with these discs," She had handed the OSDs over to him, and he swiftly hid them.

Tiberus pressed his forehead against hers lightly, and Jane had found that the pain was dulling quickly. They made their way to the Docking Bay as quickly as possible.

* * *

A speech had just commenced as Jane and Tiberus made their way through the huge crowd in the Docking wing. Everyone had been herded there because of the size of their populous aboard the station. Every crewmember, instructor and student was present, along with the Committee that was standing at the head of the crowd. There were two Alliance officers, two Conatix employees and the three remaining instructors, Tiberus just making his appearance.

_How did he get up there so fast?_

Jane had found Amber, and gave her a playful nudge. The younger girl raised her eyebrows at the sight of blood on Jane, honey-hued irises widening. Jane mouthed ' _I'm fine_ ' before turning to listen to the speech.

It was an alliance officer that had begun speaking, "Today, there has been a great tragedy that has taken place. We regret to inform everyone that Commander Carolos Vyrnnus passed today, due to a serious injury during routine biotic training. He was not killed or murdered; it was an accident that happened during a normal exercise his students were performing. However, this does mean that Conatix and the Alliance have highly underestimated the danger of training biotic powers in isolation, and BAaT will be ceasing its operations by the end of the week,"

There were murmurs within the crowd while the man spoke, but Shepard was transfixed upon the Officer. He was definitely up the ranks, the points and stripes on his shoulder were numerous, and his grey eyes were sharp in his tan skin, dark hair was short and in traditional military-style. His presence was commanding and authoritative, and Jane found herself envying the man who was speaking. He had a purpose.

"That is Captain Aden Harmon of the SSV Agincourt of the Alliance's Fifth Fleet," Eliza supplied, supposedly being able to hear him through Jane's Omni-tool.

"Throughout this week, we will be notifying families and next of kin that the program will be ending for now. Once they are notified, we will either be shipping you out, or your families will be retrieving you, whatever is the ideal situation. I'm sure that most of you are as disappointed as the committee is at this turn of events, but once we have deemed that a new program will be sufficiently more safe and efficient, a new BAaT will begin,"

Jane noticed there was a young man standing off to the side of the committee, wearing his training outfit, but he wasn't listening to the man or truly paying attention to any of his surroundings.  _Alenko_. She had seen him around the mess hall, and had mentally noted that he seemed weak when she'd first taken notice of him. It surprised her that he was the one to taken Vyrnnus down. However, he also seemed genuinely upset at Vyrnnus dying, and Jane felt sorry for him.

Perhaps if Tiberus and she hadn't been found out, then Vyrnnus wouldn't have been so harsh to his students and this would have never happened. She shook her head,  _No, this was Vyrnnus' fault._  She remembered someone telling her once that she could only control how she reacted to others; she couldn't predict how others would react to her.

The speech had ended, and the students were being taken back to the mess hall by the crewmembers, but Tiberus had begun to walk towards her and Amber.

"I'll meet up with you later," Jane said to the younger girl, and they smiled before they parted ways.

Walking up to Tiberus, he had his instructor mask on, and she smirked at him. "Good Afternoon, instructor. Is there something you require of me?" Her voice was teasing, emerald eyes shining with playfulness. She felt so free without the worry of Vyrnnus.

Tiberus leaned close, and her breath hitched, but the people walking past didn't take notice. He chuckled at her reaction, but spoke fluidly, "The committee is speaking with the graduates after they eat in the mess hall. Meet me outside the training room in two hours; two of your fellow graduates will be there,"

She nodded, and he turned swiftly, going back to speak with the Committee. She did the same, making her way to the mess hall to speak with Amber.

* * *

She had spoken with Amber. They had already notified her father and he was going to be one of the first to come pick up a student. The young women had said their goodbyes to one another, and Jane had given Amber her Comm. address for her Omni-tool, so they could communicate once Amber was back with her father. Then she'd made her way to the training hall as quickly as she could. To say she was excited was an understatement.

The other two students were there, just as Tiberus stated. The Turian himself showed up moments later, and he led them down the hallway. There were a few other students in a line outside one of the training rooms, the committee was presumably inside.

"One graduate goes in at a time, and they will speak with you and give you options. Take whichever one is most appealing to you," Tiberus spoke quickly, striding back into the room. Jane was the last in line, and after a few minutes passed, she realized no one else would be lining up behind her. That's when the nervousness set in.

The line went slowly, a student would come out, and another would go in. However, they were all smiling when they came out of the room. No one seemed to be in tears when they left the room, and it calmed Jane slightly.

After about half an hour, it was her turn. She stepped into the room, the committee all sitting in chairs on the far wall, facing the door she'd just walked through. The remaining instructors were sitting along with them, but Tiberus was standing. He must have been standing for her two other classmates as well.

"Good Evening, Jane Shepard," The grey-eyed officer spoke, and she smiled.

"Good Evening, Captain Harmon," She recited the name that Eliza gave her. The man raised his eyebrows in slightly surprise, but he didn't mention it.

The female officer that had been accompanying spoke this time, "We have reviewed your achievements within the BAaT program, as well as those outside of this station. Being the only person not enslaved or killed on Mindoir was quite a feat," The woman was pale, with blonde hair and blue eyes that rivaled Tiberus'. The mention of Mindoir didn't even faze Shepard anymore.

"I would have to say that it was luck," Shepard spoke.

The officers looked inquisitive, but again held their tongues. The Conatix pair stayed completely silent during the interview, Harmon speaking once more.

"Tiberus has spoken to us about what you have planned for your future. He mentioned that you wanted to join the ranks of the Alliance Navy," His strong voice reverberated slightly against the walls, lending an echoic sound to his words.

Shepard nodded. "That's correct, sir. I believe I can do a lot of good within the Navy, and I've always wanted to travel," She was thankful her voice didn't waver; it didn't betray how nervous she truly was.

"The only problem we have," Harmon continued, "is that you are not quite old enough to go into Basic Training,"

There were a few seconds in the air where Jane thought she might be the first to leave that room without a smile. Then the woman spoke, "However, we do have a technical program that you can enter and complete, and then you will be old enough to go through the Basic Training. If you are interested, that is. It's a program that gives Marines knowledge on encryption, mechanical training as well as some engineering experience,"

Jane was breathless, "It would be an honor,"

The pair of officers stood suddenly, and Tiberus prodded her softly to walk forward. She followed his guidance wordlessly, and Harmon spoke a last time. "Jane Shepard, on behalf of the Sol System's Navy Division, I would like to welcome you to the Alliance,"

A firm hand stuck out towards her, and Jane took it gratefully. She gave him a quick shake, doing the same to the woman beside Captain Harmon.

"Thank you, sir,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this first part of Jane Shepard's life! The next part of the series will be go throughout all her early years in the Alliance and end when she joined the N-Program.


End file.
